Local Manufacturing Company Opens New Facility for U.S. Defense Work

In August, a local Houma company had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of its new facility in Schriever that will handle defense work for the U.S. Navy, as well as other government entities.

The company, Flow Line Valve and Controls’ new facility, called “Flow Line Defense”, will manufacture butterfly valves for Naval vessels under strict specifications and standards, according to Drew Boquet, owner and president.

Said Boquet, “We're committed from the Navy to build a special building for them, special manufacturing, special personnel. Everything is built around them. When you are working with the U.S. Navy, you have to have the highest standards.”

Also present at the ceremony were U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, joined by Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, and other local officials. Landrieu expressed, “He's so excited and passionate about growing his business in his home town.”

Flow Line currently employs 30 people and will hire ten more locally by the end of 2015.On average, the company has grown five or six employees in recent years, and their sales have increased up to 40 percent per year.

Boquet expressed, “I started a company here in Houma because I thought maybe a manufacturing company like this would do well here for manufacturing that isn't oilfield based. Everything in Houma, Louisiana, is oilfield. That's it, oilfield and marine. If you don't do oilfield or marine you are out of business. I'm here to tell you that you can do other business that isn't oilfield or marine.”

Flow Line sells valves nationwide as well as internationally, with approximately five percent of its business carried out in Louisiana, and, as Boquet conveyed, “My company runs out of pocket and is competing against $10 billion corporations with all their manpower and horse power.”

About the company’s success, Dardenne noted, “This is an impressive home-grown facility that literally is putting together a product that is distributed around the world. These are the types of jobs you want to see develop in Louisiana. This company is able to hire people in the area with high-paying jobs, creating products that are recognized by the U.S. Navy and companies all over the world. It's a wonderful Louisiana success story that has been at it for a couple of decades and now is in a position to build a free-standing facility just for the work they are doing with the U.S. Navy. So you have to be very proud of a business like this.”

Senator Landrieu also praised Boquet and his company, expressing that “Drew Boquet needs to be commended and congratulated for his enthusiasm about starting local, staying local, and building big, and that's what he is doing at Flow Line. This is a really extraordinary, young, but fast-growing manufacturing company that is exporting product to our country and the world. He's not interested in going to Dallas, Houston or Atlanta because he's interested in staying here at home. God Bless him and we need more people like him.”