Nov. 18 -- EaglePicher Technologies has announced a Thursday groundbreaking for its new energetics operation in Joplin. In September, the company acquired a 55.63-acre site at 8406 E. 26th St. in the Crossroads Business Park.
In a statement, EaglePicher said the plant will feature state-of-the-art manufacturing technology with semiautomation capabilities, will create an annual revenue capacity of $80 million for the company and is expected to stimulate job growth over the next several years.
"This investment will position EaglePicher's energetics business for significant growth, while strengthening our ability to respond to current demands in a premier defense and aerospace manufacturing facility," Matt Housh, vice president and general manager of the Energetics Business Unit, said in a statement.
Energetic devices are used to transform electrical energy into mechanical or thermal energy and can be used as detonators and boosters or to ignite materials.
The company said in the statement that it has worked with several partners: Nabholz Construction, of Conway, Arkansas; Cromwell Architects Engineers, of Little Rock, Arkansas; MOKAN Joplin; the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce; the city of Joplin; and the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
EaglePicher, one of Joplin's oldest employers, was acquired by a privately held Illinois company, Tuthill Corp., last year. It currently employs more than 700 people -- more than 600 in the Joplin area.
The company provides batteries and power products for numerous defense uses, including missiles and torpedoes.
It also has been a source of batteries and power systems for space satellites and space vehicles starting in 1958 with Explorer I. It helped power the Apollo moon missions and more recently its batteries were used on the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope. Last year, it was selected to provide batteries for NASA's Artemis I mission, including the Orion crew module, which will return humans to the moon and eventually go to Mars.
It also provides lithium-ion battery systems for aviation.
EaglePicher has three plants in Joplin, one in Seneca and one in Pittsburg, Kansas, as well as operations in St. Louis and in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.