Enflite, Inc. in Georgetown Doubles in Size

Georgetown 4A Board presents Enflite, Inc. with $144,000 check. Pictured left to right: Paul Brandenburg, City Manager; George Carver, Mayor; Kevin Kieper, Enflite COO; George Gomez, Georgetown Economic Development Department; Bill Weaver, LifePort CEO; Rick Smith, Chair of Economic Development Advisory Board; Dale Mortenson, Enflite Operations Manager; and Mark Thomas, Georgetown Economic Development Department

On May 28, the Georgetown Economic Development Corporation (also known as the 4A Board) awarded $144,000 to local company Enflite, Inc. as incentive for the recent expansion of their aircraft cabin accessories manufacturing facility. The facility nearly doubled in size, from 20,000 square feet to 38,000, and Enflite anticipates adding approximately 70 people to its current workforce of 84 employees. On hand to accept the check from the 4A Board were Kevin Kieper, Executive Vice President and COO of Enflite; Dale Mortensen, Operations Manager; and Bill Weaver, CEO of parent company LifePort. Mr. Weaver had traveled to Georgetown from LifePort’s headquarters in Woodland, Washington. Presenting the check were Rick Smith, Board Chair of the city of Georgetown Economic Development Advisory Board; Paul Brandenburg, Georgetown City Manager; Mayor George Garver; and, from the Georgetown Economic Development Department, Director Mark Thomas and Program Manager George Gomez.

Enflite produces top-of-the-line cabin accessories for ultra first-class jets, primarily private. Their range of products includes tables, lifts, doors, and even appliances. Almost everything they create is designed specifically for an individual client. Many of their engineers who came from the other industries are excited by the variety of unique items they get to design. They’ve done cabinet work for the plane of Russian president Vladimir Putin and galley products for Air Force One and Two. (Not to mention, gold-plated tables for a wealthy Saudi who converted a Boeing 757 into a luxurious private jet.)

During the design phase, each part undergoes a weight saving process to make it as light as possible while maintaining structural integrity. Sumptuous looking wooden cabinets are, in reality, comprised of honeycomb aluminum composite covered by a thin wood veneer.

”Your economic impact on Georgetown goes beyond your own offices,” Mayor Garver said during a tour of the facility. Kieper and Mortensen estimated that they outsource four to five million dollars of machine parts to local companies each year. 98% of their vendors are within a 50-mile radius of Georgetown. Local architects Voelter Associates designed the building expansion, and local firm Bonnet Grant Constructors oversaw the construction.

The expansion of Enflite here in Georgetown is a great success story for the Georgetown Economic Development Department’s Retention and Expansion program. During a routine retention visit, Mark Thomas and George Gomez learned that Enflite was planning to expand. At the time, the company hadn’t decided on a site, and Georgetown was one of several options. Thomas and Gomez worked with the 4A Board to find ways to encourage the company to grow here in Georgetown, where it had seen the success that made expansion necessary. By law, 4A money is earmarked to foster creation of primary jobs and capital investments in the community in which the board is located. Georgetown is particularly interested in the type of high paying, clean technological manufacturing jobs created by Enflite.

Kieper is energized by Enflite’s growth and expects it to continue. “At some point, we feel that our galley product family will spin off to become its own company,” he said. The galley product family includes everything from microwaves to wine chillers, refrigerators to coffee pots, each designed to the unique specifications of individual clients. “That new company may stay here while the other product families move to a new site, or vice versa.”

Either way, Georgetown will be ready to step in to help again, in whatever way it can.

-Jenel Looney