Derlan Expands in Santa Ana’s Enterprise Zone : Aerospace: The Canadian company is adding 60 jobs and moving three of its Southland operations to factory it bought recently.
Aerospace and Southern California have been a drain on its earnings, but Derlan Industries is betting on a recovery.
Taking advantage of Santa Ana’s enterprise zone, the Canadian aerospace and specialty manufacturer recently bought Energy Container Corp., the aircraft fuel tanks division of BFM Aerospace Corp.
The purchase kept 110 jobs in Santa Ana, and Toronto-based Derlan is adding 60 jobs as it consolidates three other small aerospace firms it owns into about 260,000 square feet of space in the enterprise zone. That will enable the company to receive state tax advantages and other economic incentives.
Robert Snyders, senior vice president for Derlan in Santa Ana, said the enterprise zone was a factor in the decision, as was the hearty supply of skilled workers in the area. Also, he said, Derlan got a great deal on a seven-year lease from Santa Ana-based BFM Aerospace, which no longer has any operations but still owns the 12-acre property on East Dyer Road.
Though Snyders would not give financial details of the lease or the acquisition of BFM’s business, he said that “everybody was happy.”
Snyders said Derlan’s Santa Ana operations will have about $35 million in annual sales. Companywide, Derlan had revenue of about $310 million last year, but the corporation lost $43 million because of a write-down of its aerospace business.
“We don’t see any remarkable upturn in the military market,” Snyders said, “but we still think we have some opportunities, especially in foreign countries.
“And we view the commercial aerospace market as poised for a rebound.”
For now, Derlan’s expansion in Santa Ana is a small but positive step for Orange County, which has lost thousands of aerospace jobs and figures to lose several thousand more next year when Hughes Aircraft closes its plant in Fullerton.
“They could have taken (the jobs) to Arizona and Connecticut,” where Derlan has other aerospace operations, said Bonnie Birch, Santa Ana’s economic development specialist. Instead, she said, Derlan is creating jobs here.
The fuel tanks business in Santa Ana that Derlan bought was the last of the divisions of BFM, whose New York-based investors decided to get out of the aerospace industry. Two years ago, BFM shut down a separate division under the same roof that made control rods for nuclear submarines, laying off about 280 employees.
Derlan is consolidating three other businesses it owns in Southern California into the Santa Ana site: American Safety Flight Systems, a Glendale maker of oxygen systems for commercial jets; Radiant Illumination in North Hollywood, which makes lighting systems for aircraft, and Thiem Industries, a Torrance maker of precision metal components for commercial and military markets.
Corporate Consolidation
Toronto-based Derlan Industries, an aerospace and specialty manufacturer, will consolidate in Santa Ana’s enterprise zone three small firms it owns. The move will enable Derlan to receive tax advantages and other economic incentives.
Site leased from BFM Aerospace Corp.
