It's just business: manufacturing moves from Northrop Grumman, Air Liquide, ATC Co. and more

The business of manufacturing never stops. Industrial companies merge, invest and strategically expand to keep competitive, even under adverse business conditions. Read on for more details on five such expansions and acquisitions made by industrial and manufacturing companies.

Expansion: Northrop Grumman Corp. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new $20 million, 130,000-square-foot factory in Hanover, Maryland. According to the state’s Department of Commerce, the new facility will increase the company’s production of spacecraft components.

Expansion: Air Products announced June 3 it had held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its newly expanded Missouri Manufacturing and Logistics Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The $70 million renovation, the company said, is driven by increasing demand in hydrogen recovery, biogas, and the use of nitrogen in aerospace and other industries. The site will manufacture the company’s membrane separators for nitrogen gas and liquid natural gas production.

Partnership: Air Liquide announced June 3 it was investing in a French startup, Quobly, via its venture capital arm, ALIAD. In an Air Liquide statement, the industrial gas supplier said Quobly’ silicon-based quantum processing business, which seeks to scale quantum computing, has synergistic features with Air Liquide’s specialty gasses business. Airmelle Levieux, a member of Air Liquide’s executive committee, said in a statement that quantum computing is “the next major technological frontier.”

Acquisition: ATC Co. announced June 4 it had reached an agreement to acquire Aero Controls, Inc. The deal will tie ATC’s aerospace component maintenance and repair service with Aero Control’s similar but specialized services. In a company statement, ATC leadership said the deal would add “deep expertise in complex aircraft components” and its existing network to ATC’s business, while also expanding its market reach in the Pacific Northwest.

Acquisition: Mobix Labs, Inc. announced June 4 it plans to acquire Vision Aerial Inc. Mobix Labs, a fabless semiconductor developer and electronics components manufacturer, said in a statement the purchase of Vision Aerial’s drone manufacturing business would move Mobix into the drone and aerial intelligence markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.