ST. LOUIS, March 3, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- LMI Aerospace, Inc. (Nasdaq:LMIA), a leading provider of design engineering services, assemblies, kits and structural components to the aerospace, defense and technology industries, announced today it has created a Composites Technology Center of Excellence (CTCE) to provide engineering, manufacturing, test and certification services to the aerospace industry. LMI's subsidiary D3 Technologies will direct the CTCE.
"It is increasingly clear that newly designed aircraft and future derivatives of existing aircraft will likely be comprised of a much greater percentage of composite materials, generally replacing certain metal content. We believe it is highly important for LMI to play a role in this developing technology," said Ron Saks, LMI President and CEO. "We see the formation of the CTCE as an important step in the transformation of LMI into a supplier of higher level aerospace kits and assemblies containing both metallic and composite materials," added Saks.
LMI has named Karin Anderson, an expert in the field of flight-worthy composites technology, as Director of the CTCE. "We are very excited about our development of this product offering for the aerospace community. Composites offer a cost-competitive, efficient solution for aerospace products when employed appropriately. Through the CTCE, LMI and D3 are combining our talent and skills to successfully implement composites design-build programs on behalf of our customers," said Anderson.
In her newly-appointed role, Anderson will be responsible for organizing and directing all composites-related design and stress analysis engineering, as well as manufacturing and test activities, striving to ensure the CTCE emerges as a world class leader in all aspects of composite design, analysis, build, test and certification.
Anderson has more than 18 years experience leading design/build projects from conceptual design through production in both the military and commercial business sectors. Her expertise in composites technology includes engineering, manufacturing, test, survivability/vulnerability and certification. She has made significant contributions to a number of composite aircraft programs including the B2 Bomber, the F22 Fighter, the Airborne Laser and the 787 Dreamliner.
About LMI Aerospace:
LMI Aerospace, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2008, fabricates, machines, finishes and integrates formed, close tolerance aluminum and specialty alloy components and sheet metal products primarily for large commercial, corporate and military aircraft. LMI Aerospace manufactures more than 30,000 products for integration into a variety of aircraft platforms manufactured by leading original equipment manufacturers and Tier 1 aerospace suppliers. LMI Aerospace acquired San Diego-based D3 Technologies, Inc. in July 2007.
D3 Technologies, founded in 1982, is a premier provider of complex design and engineering services to the aerospace and defense industry. D3 performs structure and sub-structure design work for manufacturers of commercial, business, and military aircraft, including Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, Vought Aircraft, Airbus North America, Lockheed Martin and others. Key projects for D3 include roles on Lockheed's F-35 Lightning II and Boeing's 787, 777 Freighter and 747-8 programs. In addition, D3 also provides program management support to many of its clients' R&D departments and is actively engaged in the development of several next generation platforms.