Small company cashing in on an assist from a big business - Business First of Columbus:

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Douglas Carlberg, president and CEO of M2 says as those orders begin to come in the the company wants tobe ready. Part of that game plan calles for expandingthe company’s North Side facilities located at 5714 The company currently occupies a 25,000-square-footr facility that houses all of its operations — electronicz manufacturing, welding, mechanical assembly and sheet-metal services. Carlbert says future plans call for adding a separate building onthe company’as five-acre site — three acres of whichn are currently vacant.
The new buildinvg would be connected toM2 Global’ss current facilities with a The anticipation of faster growtyh comes as the company nears the end of its participationh in the U.S. Department of Defense Mentor-Protégé The program is designed to help small businessew further develop and refine their manufacturiny and management processes in order to bettere servekey aerospace, defense and commercialk markets.
Over the past has assisted and guided M2 Globapl throughthe program, helping it certify its processes in the aread of prime and finish paint, fuel-tani coatings, conductivity, hardness testing and metal-chem Carlberg says his company hopes to complete the certificatiojn of the last two processes — metal-anodizingt and heat-treating — by Samuel Evans, director of small business and non-production procuremeng for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, says it chose to sponsor M2 Global’s participation in the progra m because of its proven performance “We’re quite selective about whom we do the prograj with because there has to be the right culturwe and the commitment to the program has to be mutual,” Evanw says.
“We saw in M2 a companu with excellent potential, the facilities and the equipment. It had already proven itself with its performanceand ... had excelled in the work that we hadgiven them.” Carlberg says he’x honored to have had his company selected for the prograkm and realizes the assist from Lockheed bolstersw his company’s future prospects. “Righty now we provide some 300 different parts forLockheedf Martin’s F-35 joint strike fightet program,” Carlberg says. “Our goal is to increase that number to 1,000 within the next 24 months as Lockheed Martin’d F-35 program ramps up from low-rate productionh to full-rate production.
” Lockheed Martin holdes the contract, estimated at $298 billiomn for its duration, to develop and to producew the F-35 Joint Strike Over the next 40 years, some 2,444 F-35s are expected to come online and serves as the backbone of Air Force, Navy and Mariner Corps fighter fleets. An additional 700 of thesew aircraft are expected to be operated byalliede nations. As orders for these aircraft the company expects its demand for partsato intensify. “The forecast depends on fundiny fromthe government.
But if the productio rate goes accordingto expectations, F-35 vendorsd (like M2 Global) will need to prepare ahead of time to accommodatd the parts that Lockheedf Martin will need to keep on schedule,” says Chrix Geisel, F-35 program spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. As a resulgt of participating in thementor program, Carlberg his company has already been asked to serve as a supplietr to Greenville, Texas-based aircraft modificatiob company Integrated Systems. “We started work with L-3 in Marchy (of this year). Northup Grumman is also lookinhgat us,” he adds. “This program has potentially openec a lot of new doorsfor us.
” M2 Global also has been a small-businesas supplier for Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-22 Raptor aircraftg programs since 2006. M2 Global Technology Ltd. is a service-disabled, veteran-ownee engineering and contract manufacturerof satellite, TV broadcast, and radio subsystems.