LIFT buying site for composites training

Frank Otto, president of the Long Island Forum for Technology, signed papers late last week to purchase a 25,000-square-foot building in Plainview that will be used to help companies in Nassau and Suffolk counties stay in the aircraft business in the future.

That future is going to involve the use of composites -- combinations of two or more materials that are flexible and lightweight -- to build aircraft in the 21st century. Yet, many of the relatively small aircraft machine and parts companies on the Island lack the expertise or sophisticated machinery to work with composites.

Enter LIFT. Late last year, the business-technology organization received a $15-million grant from the state Dormitory Authority, a funding agency, to buy a building on the Island where workers could be trained in the use of composites. And last Thursday LIFT inked a deal to buy a warehouse from Konig Wheels Co.

Otto said it will take a few months before the state processes the paperwork, but some training could begin soon after. A fully operational facility, he said, will take a year to 18 months.

"The idea is to help these small machine companies get exposed to this type of equipment and to understand the technology," he said. Many of the companies, Otto said, are still working in metal.

LIFT also plans to do some composite manufacturing at the facility, if a company requests it and commits to learning the new technology.

Peter Rettaliata, chief executive of Air Industries Group, an aircraft-parts maker in Bay Shore, said not much of the company's business currently involves composites. "But we recognize that is going to be a big part of the future," and the LIFT facility could be very helpful, he said.

In a few years, Otto said, LIFT plans to take the lead in seeking $40 million in funding to open a large composite manufacturing facility upstate, centrally located to benefit the whole state.