STRICTLY BUSINESS: AFTER 8 MONTHS AND LOTS OF HARD WORK, AG CAT ROLLS OFF LINE

James Krepps was in a familiar position Friday afternoon, behind the controls of a 600-horsepower, G164B biplane which had just rolled off the assembly line of the new Ag Cat Corp. manufacturing plant in Malden.

Krepps, president and CEO of Ag Cat, was the first pilot for the new plane during a special open house ceremony held at the company's facilities on the site of an old Air Force base.

"It brought back some memories," said Krepps, who has been involved in the aircraft business a number years, dating back to when, as a young man, he served as a flight instructor at the Malden Air Force Base.

A lot of air has been swept under aircraft wings since then, said Krepps, who has assembled and flown Ag Cats all over the world. He is familiar with every strut, every cable and every screw in the aircraft.

"But I never thought I would be in this position," he said.

Ag Cat Corp. is new to the Malden area, but the company has been around for more than 30 years. As many as 3,000 Ag Cats are in the airways.

Krepps of Malden has been involved in the Ag Cat business since Ag Cat was founded in the late 1950s. He was employed as a specialists with the Ag Cat Corporation in Germany more than 13 years, when the planes were being manufactured by Grumman Aircraft Corporation, the same Grumman company which produced military aircraft during World War II.

"I was a Grumman tech rep for Ag Cat several years," said Krepps. "But I returned to Malden in 1976 and started a repair and parts service for agriculture crafts."

Krepps' other company, Malden Ag Crafts, also is at the Malden Industrial Park in the old Air Force field.

"There are agriculture air craft in this area, including some Ag Cats," said Krepps, who added he had left one big avenue open.

"Schweizer Aircraft Corp. of Elmira, N.Y., purchased Ag Cat," said Krepps. "I always told the Schweizer company that if they wanted to get rid of the company, I would be interested."

Krepps was the first person contacted when Schweizer entertained thoughts of selling.

"That was more than two years ago," said Krepps. "It took a long time and help from a lot of people but we finally closed on the deal in March of this year."

Things have been hectic since then, admitted Krepps, who arranged for more space in the industrial park, including some of the old Air Force hangars.

Eight months, 20 tractor-trailer truck loads of equipment and a lot of work later, Ag Cat managed to roll out the first plane. Hopefully, the second and others won't take as long, said Krepps.

One a month is early goal

Initially, Krepps has hopes of completing one plane a month, with expectations of two a month over the next two to three years.

The company now has 20 employees, with projections of 50 within a year and 100 within three years. The Malden plant will manufacture aircraft to be used for crop-dusting, weed control, fertilizing, seeding and fire control, noted Krepps.

"We have a lot of hard work in front of us," said Krepps. "But we already have a year's worth of sales at one plane a month."

The one-seater aircraft will be sold internationally through a number of distributors, including Mid-Continent Aerial Sprayers in Hayti and other distributors in Indiana, Louisiana, Dakota and California.

The Small Business Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University has been working with Krepps on the Ag Cat project the past three years.

The SBDC was instrumental in helping secure the financing for the $3.7 million deal that allowed Krepps to buy the Ag Cat Corp., said Buz Sutherland, SBDC director, who was in Malden for the "roll-out" ceremony Friday.

Earlier, Sutherland said financing was made possible through First Community Bank-Malden; Rural Economic and Community Development (formerly Farmers Home Administration); the Missouri Department of Economic Development; and the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission.

Sutherland, along with other SBDC counselors, including Southeast Missouri State University professors Dr. David Kunz and Dr. Gary Johnson, both associate professors of accounting, finance and business law, provided council to Ag Cat.

"Everybody has been helpful," said Krepps. "Southerland spent a lot of time here. Dr. Kunz and Dr. Johnson, prepared business plans for us."

All this exemplifies what can be accomplished when entrepreneurs take advantage of the resources of the Small Business Development Center, said Sutherland. "Those of us who were helping Krepps sometimes lost faith, but he never did," said Sutherland. "He never lost focus that this project would get done. He is a true entrepreneur. He's determined to be the man to bring the Ag Cat back to the pinnacle of the agriculture aircraft industry.

"This is the largest financing package we have worked with," Sutherland said. "It has been complicated in working with the various financing organizations and (Federal Aviation Administration.)"

The SBDC, through its affiliation with the World Trade Center in St. Louis, also has kept Ag Cat apprised of international trade opportunities in the agriculture and aircraft industry.

The Ag Cat project has required more time than any other project in the history of Southeast SBDC, said Sutherland. "It has also been one of the most rewarding projects for each of the counselors involved."

"They helped us get this project going," said Krepps of the SBDC. "Without them, we would never have made it."

Sutherland said Southeast SBDC has nominated the Ag Cat Corp for the 1995 Excellence in Business Award, which is presented by the Missouri Small Business Development Centers.

Plans on go for VisionAire

Plans are on go for the first flight of a VisionAire aircraft prototype early next year.

VisionAire Corporation, a St. Louis aircraft company, will manufacture business jets in Ames, Iowa, which was selected over Cape Girardeau for its manufacturing facility in early August of this year.

"The first flight of the prototype plane will be early next year in California," said Gary Pluth, VisionAire's chief financial officer.

Manufacture of the six-person -- pilot and five passengers -- jet will start in late 1997, with delivery of the first six aircraft in late 1998.

VisionAire Corporation has 30 orders for the new planes, said Pluth.

VisionAire Corp. is developing the new single-engine, five-passenger business jet that could operate from runways as short as 2,500 feet in length. The Vantage aircraft, priced at $1.5 million, would be designed for regional business travel.

Ames and Cape Girardeau were narrowed from a list of more than 30 potential sites.

The new plant at Ames will employ 150 people directly. Another 100 manufacturing jobs could be created to support the plant.