Janesville, Wis.-based Helicopter Specialties (HS) is carving a national niche as a maintainer and refurbisher of EMS helicopters. Avionics technician Jim Freeman founded the company in 2000, starting with a single BK117 HEMS refurbishment in a 3,000-sq-ft hangar and a handful of employees. Today HS has 25 employees working in nearly 50,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art space. HS is certified to work on 22 different makes and models of helicopter and six different engine types.
HS’s new, $1.6 million, 28,000-sq-ft main hangar and office complex features wireless work stations, precision-controlled temperature from an in-floor hydronic heating system, avionics and parts shop, and a spacious employee break room with kitchen, picnic room, outdoor patio and barbecues. “It’s bigger than my whole house,” Freeman jokes about the break room. The wireless work stations allow Freeman and his finance director to monitor any job’s progress in real time and know exactly where the company is with regard to schedule and budget. “Our work order system is electronic and layered. I can pull labor and parts off any job,” he said. The work stations also allow mechanics to access any manuals they need. They are all loaded on the company server.
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