HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Radiance Technologies debuted Friday morning its new Rapid Production Facility, designed to help the company perform contracted engineering solutions and prototyping work with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
In late June, Radiance announced it was awarded two significant contracts with the Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, both at Redstone Arsenal.
Through the Engineering Solutions and Prototyping (ESP) contract, Radiance will support the Marshall complex. The ESP has a possible value of $350 million over five years, according to a media release.
The opening of the Rapid Production Facility, 7272 Governors West, will help Radiance support space system development, engineering, rapid prototyping, hardware testing, integration and the application of new technologies.
“We came in and spent roughly half a million dollars of our money to repurpose, modify and renovate this building,” said Tim Tinsley, vice president of the Engineering Services and Prototyping Group at Radiance. “In doing so, I think we turned out a pretty nice product that puts us in a position to grow and continue to serve the customers we have and to start serving new customers, such as NASA.”
Tinsley said work began on the facility around January and the company moved in last month.
Radiance also recently received AS9100 Rev C certification for its Rapid Prototyping and Production Group. The certification is an industry-recognized gold standard for companies that produce aerospace products.
In a release, Tinsley, who leads the AS9100-certified team, said the path toward certification was “challenging, but critical for future participation in the competitive aerospace market.”
Ron Poteat, chair of the board of directors for the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County and president of Regions Bank in North Alabama, said the ESP contract, with a potential $350 investment over five years, is a “win for the community.”
“When you hear what they do … it’s just really kind of a wow moment to hear how they’re taking technology and applying it to create solutions for the customer,” he said. “In this case, the customer is a soldier in the field; now it’s going to be NASA. The ability to take engineering and technology and then build things, make things, and do it in a very rapid and innovative way, that sounds like Huntsville.”
Radiance has operated in Huntsville for 13 years and now has 460 employees across the globe, with about 188 in Huntsville and sales topping approximately $140 million last year, according to the company’s website.
This article originally published on AL.com:
http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2013/07/huntsville-based_radiance_tech.html