HSM Machine Works

magroup.net/blair-hsm
Year founded: 1959; North Carolina facility established in 1991
No. of employees: 20 in Leland
Top local official: James Flock, general manager and director of operations

A lot has happened at HSM Machine Works since the aviation and aerospace parts manufacturer in Leland won an exporter category award in the Business Journal’s 2021 MADE Awards competition.

“For the past two years (for example), we have encountered significant obstacles in our supply chain, which has affected our ongoing F-35 contracts,” said James Flock, HSM general manager and director of operations, referring to government contracts related to the construction of the F-35 fighter jet. “Fortunately, we have been able to counter those issues by expanding our activities in several other areas … (and have) managed to garner contacts for prototype design and manufacture on several experimental landing gear projects.”

At its 40,000-square-foot facility on Mt. Misery Road, HSM – which has been in the Cape Fear area since 1991 and merged with Blair Industries in the late ’90s to create Blair-HSM – collaborates with big customers such as Boeing, producing components for the 747-8, 767 and 777 aircraft. It also produces components that go into military aircraft such as the Boeing AH-64, Sikorsky MH-60R and Lockheed Martin F-35, which has historically been the firm’s “bread and butter,” Flock said.

Through much of the COVID-19 pandemic, the defense industry was a big market for the firm, he said, supporting much of its growth and stability. But today, new areas of growth are afoot.

“We are now performing more work in the commercial aerospace sector and have a better balance of commercial and defense work, both for fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters,” said Flock. “That better balance … has led to a much more robust and healthier bottom line.”

And that bottom line has been assisted, in part, by the region’s supportive and forward-leaning manufacturing base, he said.

“Overall, the environment for manufacturing in the Cape Fear area is very favorable, with the state of North Carolina and local officials being extremely welcoming and aggressive in recruiting manufacturers here, and many of them have chosen our little corner of the state for new facilities,” Flock said.

And Flock is hopeful that workforce availability will improve.

“Organizations such as our local Workforce Development Board, the chambers of commerce, the Cape Fear Manufacturing Partnership and all three regional community colleges are working to improve awareness of the great potential of manufacturing careers to the general public,” said Flock, who is a leader in the partnership and chairman of the Cape Fear Workforce Development Board. “These entities are working with manufacturers in the area to improve training and retention, and the future is bright in this regard for the greater Wilmington area.”