Airplane windshield maker PPG will add 12 jobs in expansion

The PPG Industries plant in Huntsville, which specializes in airplane windshields, is expanding its local operation and adding employees.

The new facility, on Fletcher Street, will be about three miles from the main plant off U.S. 72 East. Aaron Anderson of Huntsville will manage the operation, and Kyle Stange of Madison will serve as chief inspector of the new aircraft framing facility, PPG said in a news release.

The expanded operation will have about 12 employees and concentrate on window framing, a new business for PPG.

"Previously airlines would have to work with different suppliers in terms of getting their windows repaired and then the framing," company spokeswoman Jean Verlich said. "Now PPG has combined both of those capabilities."

The company received Federal Aviation Administration approval last month for the work.

PPG said it will overhaul and repair the "number-two sliding cockpit windows, including the frames for Boeing, Airbus and McDonnell Douglas."

Mark Cancilla, global business platform manager for PPG, said the new effort will provide new business opportunities for the company.

"As airlines continue to seek efficiencies, we took the next step in the supply chain to add in-house framing capability to our aftermarket support services," Cancilla said. "Now airlines can return cockpit windows to us, and we can rebuild the windows as well as overhaul and repair the frames."

The company will use half of an 18,000-square-foot building, which gives PPG room to expand later if needed.