Cleveland factory workers proud to see their work on display during Marine Week

CLEVELAND - Kids stare in awe as they get up close, even hands on with tanks, Hummers and military aircraft during Marine Week in Cleveland.

People click away with cameras and hand-held devices at the Osprey transport plane and other military machinery in Voinovich Park along the Lake Erie shore.

But what many of the visitors might not know is that many of the parts used to make these mighty machines are made in Cleveland.

"For the Osprey, we do a coupling that's used on the exhaust system," said David Kleinpeter, sales manager for Voss Industries in Cleveland.

Voss Industries is making some noise in their West 25th Street factory and in the aerospace industry.

Founded in 1957, its future is brighter than ever.

"We have about 330 employees, up from 260 a year ago," said Kleinpeter.

Workers at Voss made clamps and couplings for shuttle rocket boosters. Now they're keeping busy continuing to make wings for missiles, highly engineered components used in cabin pressurization for commercial and military aircraft, plus parts that can withstand jet engine heat of 1,200 degrees.

Akaniao Kozeniewski served in Iraq for 14 months as a Marine. Now he's a sales engineer at Voss. Marine Week in Cleveland means a lot to him.

"I have a lot of pride in being a former Marine. Plus it's almost overwhelming to see how our components at Voss are engineered from raw material and to see it actually function and be a part of something as remarkable as the Osprey," Kozeniewski said.

Cleveland is known around the world as the rock 'n' roll capital.

Voss also represents Cleveland globally.

Voss engineers and workers in the Cleveland factory make parts for companies in many countries including France, Germany and Spain.

When Marine Week leaves town, it will take a little of Cleveland with it in the military machines used all over the world.