Cherokee Nation Industries acquires Oklahoma aerospace company

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Feb 25, 2009 by Heather Caliendo

Cherokee Nation Industries acquired Oklahoma aerospace company Red Wings Products Inc., officials announced Tuesday afternoon.

Based in Kellyville, Okla., Red Wing Products manufactures and assembles electronic airplane parts for the U.S. Department of Defense. The company name will change to Cherokee Nation Red Wing.

The Cherokee Nation Industries aerospace and defense unit is at the company's Stilwell facility.

CNI was established in 1969 to serve as the economic and work force sector for the Cherokee Nation. Bryan Collins, chief executive of CNI, said talks began about a year ago to take over Red Wing. He said the acquisition was part of their growth strategy.

Red Wing's work in producing small parts will help eliminate some previous outsourcing work for CNI, which will save the company about $1 million on outsourced parts.

"For our aerospace unit there is still a lot of demand out there," said Collins. "We feel there is a certain niche of work and this business segment is still pretty strong. Within the Department of Defense there is still a lot of demand."

This acquisition adds 30,000 square feet of production and about 30 employees to CNI's work force.

Collins said their intention is to retain all of Red Wing's employees and to find where they could make additions.

"Basically in the aerospace industry there is a lot of credibility based on the capability to continue to grow," said Collins.

"Having another company with this past performance goes toward producing a more integrated package."

Red Wing has about 35 years of experience in the aerospace business.

The company assembles electronic airline parts such as wiring, cabling, harnesses and fabricated electro-mechanical parts.

CNI has 40 years of experience in the electronic components field, manufacturing some of the same products as Red Wing.

Collins said producing some of the same products made Red Wing an attractive fit to CNI's portfolio of business.

"This really is a perfect fit for our company," he said. "Many of Red Wing's clients have been longtime customers and business associates of Cherokee Nation Industries and we look forward to continuing these relationships."

Revenue projections for CNI for the 2009 fiscal year are about $100 million, Collins said.