Northwest Aerospace News June | July 2019 Issue No. 9 | Page 47
Owner, Matt Roberts, pictured inside Apex’s new Powder
Coatings shop that will be opening this summer.
T
he aerospace giant wanted to see Apex succeed so that its
Oregon-based subcontractors would have a local resource for
surface treatments. At that time, the closest certified anodizing
shops were located in San Jose, California and Seattle,
Washington and servicing companies doing business in the
Portland metro area was not at the top of their priority list.
Ultimately, Apex met the standard and opened itself up to an
entirely new facet of the aviation industry.
“Now, we can work on the mechanical parts of the airplane,”
Olson explained. “We work on a lot of parts that go into
the landing gear, and also the cockpit, like displays and
instruments. Honestly, a lot of the parts we do end up in
aircraft systems and we don’t know which ones they are. For
example, we know it’s a rub strip and it’s going on a 777 or a
737, but that’s it.”
To accommodate the increased demand, Apex moved again in
2015 — this time, to a 40,000-square-foot shop located near
Portland International Airport, and focused on the aviation
business. The company’s location in Sparks is responsible for
carrying on most of the company’s work in the sporting goods
sector, as well as treating parts used inside slot machines.
Its latest addition, also located in Portland, is dedicated
exclusively to powder coating.
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