Sky’s the limit
Housed in an unimpressive structure at the end of a runway at Alva’s airport, Vantage Plane Plastics employs 24 local residents for the production of every conceivable part for both the interior and exterior an aircraft might need.
ALVA — The morning sun highlights the red bluffs just west of Alva as oil trucks whiz by on U.S. 281 south of Alva. Here and there cattle are grazing. There is no indication that this isolated town of 5,000 is a national leader in manufacturing aviation parts for small aircraft.
Housed in an unimpressive structure at the end of a runway at Alva’s airport, Vantage Plane Plastics employs 24 local residents for the production of every conceivable part for both the interior and exterior an aircraft might need.
Kelly Ressendiz works putting together carpet orders for the floors of private planes from a selection of 79 carpet patterns.
Brad Gordon, Chris Stinebaugh, and Joe Rinkines manhandle large sheets of plastic, fitting them under a vacuum press — affectionately called the air hockey table — and over a parts mold. Gravity brings down the press after the air is sucked out, creating an aircraft part.
Near the rear of the plant, Ezekiel Olivas is shredding waste plastic that will be sent back to the supplier to earn a rebate or to be used in a bonding mix for use by airplane owners for repairing tears in the plastic.
In another corner of the plant, Justice Steffen and Shawna Waddill are sorting and cleaning plastic parts before shipment.
Supervising this and the sales staff in the front office is 60-year-old Mark Seaver. Originally from Bartlesville and a 22-year-veteran of Boeing Co., Seaver is proud of his Cherokee heritage and could not imagine himself working anywhere other than Oklahoma.
“When I cross that border back into Oklahoma, I literally can feel my blood pressure go down,” Seaver said. Eight years ago, a corporate headhunter called Seaver about operating the Alva site. What attracted Seaver was that it was in Oklahoma, near family, and involved aviation.
Behind him on the plant floor stand metal racks reaching to the ceiling. They house more than 3,500 molds for parts of nearly every small aircraft in the world — Piper, Cessna, Beechcraft, Mooney and others. Private aircraft began using plastic in the structure in 1960. Vantage has on hand 275 parts molds for Cessna alone.
“When I got here, it took 10 days to get a part out. I was able to bring that down to having 80 percent of these parts out in less than a day,” Seaver said.
Each part mold has to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. The certification process can take from 30 days to a year, Seaver said.
The cost of making a part also varies based on how often the part mold will be used. A one-time part with a rare repeat use from the mold could be as much as $2,500.
“Of course with some parts, we manufacture quite a number and keep them on hand based on how many aircraft are out there,” Seaver said. “After all, there are 23,000 Cessna 172s out there and you know they are going to be needing parts.”
Vantage has supplied parts for clients in nearly every country on the globe, but primarily in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. They are also a parts supplier for aircraft manufacturers such as Piper.
Besides parts, carpet, and a bonding agent, Vantage also supplies aviation paint and molds. In a neighboring hanger where clients’ aircraft sit, parts are fitted to make sure they will be suitable for shipment.
“We are centrally located here in Alva with inexpensive land in comparison with the rest of the nation,” Seaver said. “There is no reason why we cannot be a one-stop shop for aircraft owners sometime down the road.”
At least that is Seaver’s goal for Vantage.
The plant has its roots with a dream Wayne and Beverly Kinzie had in having a site in Alva for the manufacture of helicopter parts. Wayne owned a helicopter and believed they could perform multiple tasks on working farms and ranches.
“Parts were so overpriced,” said Beverly Kinzie. “So we got approval for manufacturing parts most common for helicopters.”
While their helicopter parts business grew, their son Paul was in shop at the local high school where he witnessed how parts could be made from sheets of plastic.
“We went to Cessna and asked them how long it took for them to manufacture parts. When they said from 90 to 100 days, we knew people wouldn’t want to wait around that long,” Beverly Kinzie said.
The Kinzies went into the manufacture of private airplane parts, with Paul managing the site. That came to an end in 1999 when Paul decided to get married and move from Alva.
They sold their business to California-based Vantage in 2000.
Sonja Williams, director for Woods County Economic Development, says the impact of Vantage locally is immense.
“Twenty-plus jobs in a community our size is huge,” Williams said. “They try to buy everything locally, and a lot of their business is not from Oklahoma and that’s advantageous for us and for the state.”
Williams is quick to point out that Vantage spends $1.25 million in Alva each year and last year had $3.8 million in gross sales.