Northwest Aerospace News August | September Issue No. 4 | Page 41

“We’re a Top 100 supplier to Boeing,” Johnson
said. “We are in a very select group. ”
T
he company is planning for sig-
nificant growth. After years of process
improvement, it has achieved AS9100
certification and is now planning to ex-
pand and diversify. The first step is on
the drawing board a plant expansion
that would add 7,000 square feet to the
existing 12,000-square-foot machine
shop, and allow for new machines that
will handle bigger pieces, which will
allow CM to compete for new work.
That’s assuming Johnson can find the
people he needs.
Running an aerospace company in
Montana has its trade-offs. For starters,
there aren’t a lot of companies com-
peting for talent, so when you do land
a good employee, chances are they’re
going to stay for the long haul, Johnson
said.
Taxes and energy costs are signifi-
cantly lower, which offsets the higher
cost of sending pieces out-of-state for
heat-treating and coating, he said.
But since Montana doesn’t have a large
aerospace cluster, it also doesn’t have
a dedicated training pipeline to funnel
new people into the industry.
As a result, there’s a shortage of skilled
manufacturing workers, which is
pushing companies to offer higher and
higher pay in an effort to entice workers
to Montana from other states. 
Over the past five years, entry-level
wages have climbed from $15 to $16
an hour to somewhere in the $19 an
hour range, Johnson said. Mid-career
machinists with solid experience can
expect to make almost as much in
Montana as they would working for
suppliers in Seattle or Spokane, he said.
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