For many manufacturers supporting the commercial aerospace industry, last year was a challenge. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, commercial flights globally in 2020 saw 2.6 billion fewer passengers, down 60% from 2019. Lou Auletta, president of Bristol-based Bauer Inc., understands that impact firsthand. His company, which manufactures aircraft component testing equipment for commercial […]
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For many manufacturers supporting the commercial aerospace industry, last year was a challenge.
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, commercial flights globally in 2020 saw 2.6 billion fewer passengers, down 60% from 2019.
Lou Auletta, president of Bristol-based Bauer Inc., understands that impact firsthand. His company, which manufactures aircraft component testing equipment for commercial and military aviation industries, including large aerospace companies like Pratt & Whitney, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, saw its international business in 2020 drop from 70% of its business to 30%; overall revenues declined roughly 15% for the year.
Despite those challenges, Auletta, who has owned Bauer since 2002, remains bullish about the future of the aerospace industry in general and the growth of the testing sector in particular.
So much so, that amid the pandemic he moved forward with plans to nearly double Bauer’s 40,000-square-foot facility on Century Drive to 70,000 square feet with plans to increase the business lines the company competes in.
Auletta’s confidence in aerospace may be well-founded. The Boeing Market Outlook, for instance, projects global demand for 19,000 commercial airplanes valued at $3.2 trillion over the next 10 years, with an additional 43,000 planes worth $7.2 billion by 2040.
The aerospace testing market alone is projected to grow 3.6% annually from 2021 to 2027, and increase its market size to more than $4.6 billion, according to market research from 360 Research Reports.
Prior to the pandemic, Auletta says, Bauer Inc. – which was founded in 1916 and has been creating aerospace testing equipment since the 1930s – had been growing annually between 10% to 15% in recent years by expanding its business lines and international presence, especially in Asia.
“We have the potential to [create testing equipment] for just about every aircraft system, except the cockpit,” Auletta said.
He notes the company has a long history of making engine-related testing systems, for fuel, landing gears and brakes, but in the past five years has expanded its product line to hydraulic systems, which now account for roughly one-third of the company’s business, Auletta estimates.
Bauer’s products can test a wide range of functions from engine oil, pneumatics and electrical mechanical components, but it was, in part, the growth in hydraulics testing that prompted Bauer to expand its facility, which was built in 2000 and houses the company’s nearly 100 employees.
Its hydraulics technology can test the performance of flow, pressure, speed and torque, as well as fluid cleanliness.
“We had been leasing space in our industrial park, but since we wanted to bring everything under one roof, create some efficiencies and bring back in-house some business we had been outsourcing in fabrication and machining, expansion made more sense,” Auletta said.
The $3.5 million facility expansion is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2022.
Doubling revenue
The trend toward diversification has been growing in both the aviation sector and its testing market, says Eduardo Montalvo, founder and former president of Miami-based Silver Wings Aerospace, which is a longtime Bauer client.
“The market leaders are able to provide a broad array of offerings and provide one sales and service team,” said Montalvo, who currently advises Silver Wings.
The need to diversify has led to acquisitions and consolidation in the aerospace sector, and it’s something Auletta says is always a consideration as he aspires to double his company from a $25 million operation to $50 million over the next three years.
“We have an appetite for an acquisition if it’s complementary to our [core business],” Auletta said, noting he’d like to grow the test and measurement capabilities of his company, which are a key component of military defense testing.
Military clients – and a $3.6 million federal Paycheck Protection Program loan to support staff retention – helped Bauer weather the uncertainty of the pandemic and present a growth opportunity moving forward.
In fact, Auletta estimates that only about one-third of the additional 30,000 square feet in his facility will be earmarked for current business, with two-thirds slated for future business lines.
And those opportunities – and stricter regulations – are evolving as the aerospace sector explores new engine technologies and components to increase fuel efficiency, reduce noise and decrease costs.
“It’s definitely created new opportunities for us,” Auletta said. “The new engine technology will require new tests [and equipment].”
Silver Wing’s Montalvo said innovative technologies are also changing the skill set needed in the aerospace industry.
“New aircraft have a lot more computers and intricate circuitry, so where [a company] might have needed a mechanical engineer in the past for a testing situation, they now might need a computer engineer, electrical engineer and a mechanical engineer,” Montalvo said.
Auletta said he’s optimistic the commercial aviation sector will continue its recovery trend from 2020 and his international revenue will return to its pre-pandemic levels.
