January 23, 2004

Two Muskegon aerospace firms recently won large contracts through the US military:

• Kaydon Corp., Muskegon, won a $2.69 million contract from the Defense General Supply Center, Richmond, Va., for cylindrical roller bearings (States News Service, January 13, 2004).
  
  
• Johnson Technology Inc., Muskegon, won a $474,336 contract from the Naval Inventory Control Point, Philadelphia, for aircraft turbine nozzles (States News Service, January 20, 2004).
  
  

Kaydon Corp. was founded in Muskegon in 1941, and has grown into an international company. Manufacturing for a variety of industries including aerospace, medical, and defense, principle products include: bearings, filters, specialty retaining rings and balls, shaft seals, hydraulic cylinders, metal castings and various types of slip-rings. Kaydon currently employs almost 200 in Norton Shores with both the division headquarters for the Bearing Division, and a precision bearing manufacturing plant located there.

Johnson Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Aircraft, operates two facilities in Muskegon County with one in Muskegon and one in Norton Shores. They produce turbine nozzle segments and shrouds for commercial and military aircraft engines and land-based generating systems. At the Muskegon plant alone, employees annually manufacture approximately 100,000 turbine engine parts.