On Wednesday, Eclipse Aviation hosted city and state leaders at
the dedication of its new Friction Stir Weld Center. Guests,
including ANN Editor-In-Chief Jim Campbell, toured the new
50,000 square foot facility, and witnessed a demonstration of
Eclipse's friction stir welding process. Construction of the new
facility, which is leased to Eclipse by Waterman, Inc. of
Albuquerque, New Mexico, began in November of 2002. The operation
is located in the Broadway Industrial Center on Albuquerque's
Southwest side and is now fully operational. Friction stir welding
is an advanced manufacturing process, which the company is the
first to use in the assembly of thin-gauge aluminum aircraft.