Firm lands contract fixing big wheels, 5-year deal is for repair of C-17 brakes, tires

By RICK BARRETT

Last Updated: Feb. 26, 2003

A Milwaukee company founded by a former Marine helicopter pilot has landed a contract to repair wheels and brakes of military transport airplanes that could be used in a war with Iraq.

Messier-Bugatti-Tracer Photo/Benny Sieu Edwardo Feliciano stacks aircraft tires Wednesday after they were disassembled for maintenance at Messier-Bugatti-Tracer, 1600 W. Cornell St.

The company is Messier-Bugatti-Tracer, formerly Tracer Repair & Overhaul. The five-year contract is with Messier-Bugatti, a French company that manufactures wheels and brakes for U.S. Air Force C-17 airplanes.

Built by Boeing Co. in Long Beach, Calif., the C-17 is heavily used by the U.S. military and has moved troops and Apache helicopters from Fort Campbell, Ky., to remote bases in eastern Afghanistan.

A C-17 typically carries 45 tons of cargo and can land on dirt runways in remote areas. But the landings come at a price, with heavy wear on the airplane's 14 wheels and 12 brakes.

"All bets are off when these planes have to set down on unprepared runways," said Bill Morales, Tracer Repair & Overhaul founder and president of Messier-Bugatti-Tracer, a joint venture announced last week by Messier-Bugatti and Tracer R&O.

The company has an airplane wheel repair and overhaul plant on Milwaukee's north side and already has started work on the C-17 project, Morales said Wednesday.

Morales would not reveal the dollar amount of the contract with Messier-Bugatti but said Messier-Bugatti-Tracer expects $30 million in sales in 2004. By comparison, Tracer R&O had $18 million in sales in 2002.

"For us, this is like jumping from Little League to the major league," Morales said. "All of a sudden, we have the world's third-largest aircraft wheel and brake overhaul service for commercial and military aircraft," behind Honeywell International and Goodrich Corp.

Messier-Bugatti is a division of Snecma, a French aerospace conglomerate that does work for Boeing, Airbus and other aircraft companies.

Boeing, which builds the C-17 at a plant in Long Beach, selected Messier-Bugatti to supply wheels and brakes for a new version of the C-17 that has a heavier gross takeoff weight.

As part of the Boeing contract, Messier-Bugatti needed U.S. plants to repair and overhaul C-17 wheels and brakes, since all heavy aircraft wheels and brakes must be serviced regularly.

Messier-Bugatti chose Tracer R&O for the task, and the two companies created Messier-Bugatti-Tracer. Under the agreement, Messier-Bugatti supplies the C-17 wheel and brake parts, and Messier-Bugatti-Tracer supplies the labor at plants in Milwaukee and Miami.

The C-17 contract is bigger than any business landed by the former Tracer R&O, Morales said. "Before, the biggest customers we supported were airlines like Sun Country or Champion."

A war with Iraq and other world events could boost the amount of C-17 wheel and brake work. The C-17 is used for humanitarian missions as well as military purposes.

The new venture gives Messier-Bugatti a foothold in North America to pursue assignments from U.S. airlines as well as the military, said Barry Wightman, Messier-Bugatti-Tracer vice president of marketing.

The Milwaukee company plans to open a wheel shop in Las Vegas this year to service West Coast airlines, including freight carriers.

Morales also is president of Tracer Corp., an aviation aftermarket parts supplier for major airlines and air freight carriers. That company, also based in Milwaukee, is separate from Messier-Bugatti-Tracer.