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ITT Corp.'s spin-off of its "Defense and Information Solutions" business into a separate entity Monday is expected to produce big dividends for the Utah economy as the new company embarks on an expansion of its Salt Lake City operations.
The new entity, ITT Exelis, is based in McLean, Va., but plans to add about 100 employees annually to its Salt Lake City staff of 400 beginning in 2012 and continuing "for the foreseeable future."
ITT Exelis's operations in Utah are conducted under two divisions, said spokesman John Dench.
One constructs carbon-composite structures for military and commercial aircraft, while the second division fabricates acoustic sensors for military, medical and other commercial uses. "Our businesses in Salt Lake City are definitely on an upward growth path," Dench said.
He pointed out the composite-structures operations, which are housed in a 133,000-square-foot facility in the Salt Lake International Center near Salt Lake City International Airport, will begin expanding into a nearby 300,000-square-foot facility shortly after the first of the year.
The expansion, though, will take place gradually over the next several years, Dench said. "A lot of the new fabricating equipment that we will be bringing in has a long [order] lead time, so it will take a while to get everything in place."
ITT has had operations in Utah for the past 40 years.
Dench said to support the planned growth in Utah, the company will be working closely with area universities, as well as Salt Lake Community College and the Davis Applied Technology College, to ensure it has a pool of well-trained potential employees to draw upon.
"We've been working closely with ITT, and they have been strong partners with us for a number of years," said James Larson, the director of marketing at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville. "They have been particularly interested in our students who have completed our composite technician program."
Larson said that nine-month composite program trains students in the basic fabrication of composite forms — skills that are increasingly in demand in the aerospace, automotive and construction industries.
ITT also has "representatives on our employer advisory team that helps set the educational standards for our programs so that we can be assured that we are offering our students the skills and knowledge they need to enter that industry," he said.
ITT Exelis was one of two ITT business units that were spun off from the parent company. It is expected to generate $5.8 billion in revenue for its 2011 fiscal year. Its shares are expected to debut on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday morning under the ticker symbol XLS.
The second unit ITT spun off consisted of its water technology operations. The new company, now known as Xylem, provides products to transport, treat, test and use water in public utility, residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial settings. Headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., Xylem is projected to generate annual revenue of $3.2 billion.