news-record.com

KERNERSVILLE (MCT) — The pull of key customers persuaded an Oklahoma aviation-maintenance company not to expand its operations in the Triad after all.

TAT Technologies Ltd., the parent company of Piedmont Aviation Component Services LLC of Kernersville, decided to keep the manufacturing and repair operations of its Limco Airepair Inc. subsidiary in Tulsa rather than move them to Kernersville.

Piedmont provides component maintenance and overhaul capability for the commercial-, regional-, corporate- and general-aviation sectors.

The consolidation, announced in February, was supposed to have created 120 jobs and kept 128 employees in Kernersville and Winston-Salem. The $5.8 million expansion was supposed to have started in the fall.

As part of its decision, Piedmont was made eligible for up to $44,000 in incentives from the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners and $44,000 from the One North Carolina Fund, which the governor can provide to expanding businesses or businesses opening operations in the state.

But TAT's board of directors voted in late July against going forward with the consolidation effort.

In a letter to Forsyth County and the N.C. Department of Commerce, the company said that "the principal reason for this decision was that TAT had received requests from a number of Limco's significant customers that the operations remain in Tulsa."

''In addition, unanticipated costs significantly diminished the anticipated savings from the relocation."

Linda Mickle, human resources manager at Piedmont, said the parent company became concerned that the cost of the new space "was going up to the point that there probably wasn't going to be much cost savings from the consolidation."

Deborah Barnes, a spokeswoman for the commerce department, said the $44,000 in state grant money has been returned.

''We never pay any incentives up front," Barnes said. "Companies must perform first -- create jobs, meet wage targets, etc. This situation is unusual, but sometimes circumstances change and a company must rethink strategies."

Forsyth had not paid any money to Piedmont because its incentives also were based on job and capital-investment performance.

Mickle said that the decision has no effect on its local work force.

Piedmont has its corporate office and manufacturing and repair operations on a 56,000-square-foot campus at 1031 E. Mountain St. The Kernersville plant focuses on landing gear and auxiliary-power units for aircraft. It also provides propeller sales and repair services at a 31,000-square-foot building at 3817 N. Liberty St. in Winston-Salem.

Bruce Boyer, the president and chief executive of the Kernersville Chamber of Commerce, said he was disappointed with the decision since the city was hoping to land supplier jobs along with the Piedmont expansion.

Mickle said that another economic factor in the decision could have been the unemployment rate in the Triad -- 11.7 percent in June -- compared with Tulsa's 6.8 percent rate.

Mickle said that some skilled Limco employees may have become concerned about their spouses' chances of getting a job here.

She projected that fewer than 25 percent of the Limco employees in Tulsa would have accepted a transfer here.