Fort Peck Reservation company, A&S Tribal Industries in running for contracts

A Fort Peck Reservation manufacturing company is hopeful that a relationship it has forged with a giant defense contractor will yield 200 jobs and as much as $20 million in contracts in coming years.

By JO DEE BLACK
Tribune Staff Writer

A&S Tribal Industries http://www.astiinc.net/ has a mentor/protégé agreement with Northrop Grumman Corp., a global company doing $25 billion in sales a year to governments and private industry.

The deal is tied to a federal requirement for U.S. Department of Defense contractors to do a certain amount of business with small firms.

A&S Tribal Industries’ deal is with a division of Northrop that builds radar systems for F-16 fighter jets. But Northrop isn’t guaranteeing to buy $20 million worth of products from A&S.

"They are offering us technical assistance; this is a teaching process," said Rick Kirn, a member of A&S Tribal Industries board of directors. "They are not giving us work, but teaching us how to get work from their clients."

The pair met a couple of years ago when A&S Tribal Industries bid over the Internet on parts Northrop needed.

"Their quotes were so excellent, our people wanted to go there to check it out and see if they could really perform for those prices," said Katie Gray, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems vice president of procurement and material manufacturing.

Northrop’s folks liked what they saw.

Although there were many other small businesses being considered for a mentor agreement, it was A&S Tribal Industries that made the final cut, Gray said.

The new jobs will require workers to be skilled in metal fabrication, welding and as machinists. Fort Peck Community College started working with A&S Tribal Industries two years ago to develop training programs, said Jim Shanley, the college’s president and a member of A&S Tribal Industries board.

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http://www.astiinc.net/

ASTI

P.O. Box 308

Poplar, MT 59255

406-768-5151

[email protected]

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Northrop is helping out, donating equipment to the college, along with $15,000 for the new training program. The company will also work with the college on a program that gives students hands-on work experiences, Shanley said.

Gray made her first trip out to Montana Wednesday to seal the deal. Having the entire community on hand – along with Gov. Judy Martz who declared Poplar "Capitol for the Day" – was a unique experience, she said.

"It knocked my socks off," Gray said. "I work with thousands of companies and rarely do I see so many entities working together. The companies are always happy to work with us, but this was the whole community, the whole tribal nation. It was fantastic."

The citizens of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation have plenty of reasons to cheer the deal.

A&S Tribal Industries, which employed 500 workers in the 1980s, was $2 million in the red with less than five employees in 1991. The company is owned by the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes.

Personnel created a business plan to focus on machining and metal work. The firm met international industry certification requirements to make defense and aerospace parts.

Those efforts are now paying off, Shanley said.

In March, A&S Tribal Industries signed a $5 million, two-year contract to make metal chests for the military. In August, the firm had 70 full-time workers.

"These are exactly the type of projects we need in eastern Montana," he said. "They will create jobs but also involve value-added products that will bring money in and boost the economy."

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