JEAN ORTIZ/Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 7:00 pm
Lincoln Composites opened its 60,000-square-foot site at the LIncoln Airport Authority’s rail center Wednesday, and it may not be the last of the growth for the local business, company officials said.
The company will use the site, leased from the Lincoln Airport Authority, to build a larger version of its carbon-composite fuel tanks to use in the bulk delivery and storage of natural gas.
The new operation eventually will employ about 39 people directly, said Bill Dick, senior vice president of special operations.
A skeleton production staff likely will work through the first and second quarter of next year as product undergoes testing, with more help coming on board when the company is ready to push out product for sale.
Lincoln Composites will take up about half of the first building that will make up the Airport Authority’s new rail center to be served by the authority’s extended rail spur to the BNSF Railway. Long-term plans call for five buildings, Dick said.
No lease has been signed on the other side of the building, and Lincoln Composites has first right of refusal, he said.
The company is considering taking it for itself, he said.
Airport Authority Executive Director John Wood was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Knut Flakk, chairman of the board of Hexagon Composites, Lincoln Composites’ owner, has announced he is considering manufacturing in Lincoln a low-pressure tank that is now made in Norway for the European market, Dick said. The product would be made here primarily for North American markets.
There is no indication of when that decision will be made.
Though that manufacturing process is highly automated, it could add at least 30 more jobs and would be based out of the rail center, Dick said.
Lincoln Composites, based at 6801 Cornhusker Highway, employs about 70 people.
Reach Jean Ortiz at 473-7107 or jortiz@journalstar.com