Aug. 10—Leading Edge Aerospace founder and President Stan Unruh plans to auction off his Wichita tooling and composite company after 25 years.
Leading Edge manufactured tooling to produce the landing legs on SpaceX's 15-story Falcon rocket booster and the wings on Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity that now shuttles paying customers to the edge of space. It has also worked closely with Textron Aviation and Bell Helicopter, among others.
"There's very few people in the United States who can actually do the development tooling and the prototyping at a cost that these people can make their mistakes, modify their tools and come back and redevelop it for a better product," Unruh said. "That's why these people called us."
The two commercial buildings at 1360 S. Anna Street will go to online-only auction through McCurdy Auctions along with the Leading Edge name, equipment, machinery and customer list.
"This factory is built. It's very well equipped," Unruh said. "Come in and do what you want with it."
Bidding will open at 2 p.m. Tuesday and close at 2 p.m. Aug. 31. Leading Edge's specialized resin infusion process, which Unruh said helps reduce prototyping costs by roughly 30%, will be bid separately between Sept. 5 and Sept. 21.
Unruh said it won't take a large team to step in and pick up production. The machine shop and composite shop are currently operated by one employee each.
Second career
Up until 1998, Unruh ran a successful farm and ranch operation in Harper County. It wasn't until his wife, Mary, decided to go back to college to become a math teacher that they sold the ranch and moved to Wichita.
That's when he got into fabrication and began doing his own work on the side.
"I learned a whole lot real quick," Unruh said. "I didn't have an engineering degree. I had really no real experience in aviation or tooling."
He started with local work but quickly got noticed by larger composite companies that supplied Textron and Spirit AeroSystems.
"I ended up getting a reputation for really being conscientious," Unruh said. "I met with the customers. They called me and I made things happen."
In 2012, Textron approached him about doing composite manufacturing for tooling on the Scorpion jet. Since then, Leading Edge has landed a series of major contracts with aerospace and rocket companies.
"There's a lot of companies that do a lot of big things," Unruh said. "I'm a little humbled about some of that stuff but I did do it."
But he said he's ready for a new adventure. He plans to spend the next few years supporting his son, Colby Unruh's company, Unruh Development, which has developed a process for manufacturing prefabricated homes that are being erected in Colorado.
This story was originally published August 10, 2023, 5:33 AM.
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