Published: October 12, 2002
Edition: METRO
Section: NEWS

Robert Ulrich, aircraft innovator
The technology company founder helped to develop precision-cutting techniques to make parts for the F-22, a stealth combat plane.
By Trudi Hahn
Staff Writer
Robert Ulrich, who helped develop precision cutting techniques to make parts for the F-22, a stealth combat airplane that can evade radar - died unexpectedly Oct. 4 at his home in Ham Lake. He was 53.
Ulrich was founder and president of LAI Companies, which makes precision machine components using laser and waterjet technologies in Westminster, Md., Phoenix and Fridley. Among key products made at the Twin Cities plant, LAI Midwest Inc., are titanium panels for the F-22 Raptor, a military plane being built by Lockheed Martin.
``Bob Ulrich was part of the success story of the F-22 program,'' delivering parts on time and helping reduce costs, said Larry Cameron, senior manager of airframe components for Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. LAI Midwest started working on the Raptor in 1996.
The most complicated F-22 panel the Fridley plant makes is a titanium sheet, approximately 3 feet by 2 feet, with 28,000 angled diamond-shaped precision holes. ``They all must be perfect,'' said Matt Kalina, LAI marketing director, and Ulrich helped develop the waterjet cutting machine that does the job.
Ulrich, who grew up in Robbinsdale, served two tours of duty in Vietnam, starting at age 20. By 1979, with a business degree from the University of Minnesota, he was working for the Internal Revenue Service in Colorado. A friend introduced him to a man who had developed a laser ( cutting) tool but had no business expertise. Ulrich joined him and soon was improving the engineering techniques.
``He was fascinated that you could take light and cut through plastic and metal,'' said his daughter, Heather Johnson of Coon Rapids, who works for her father's company in information technology.
But lasers have a limited capacity for cutting through thick materials, and in 1987, Ulrich was one of the first to bring an abrasive waterjet cutting machine into a job shop, Kalina said.
Said Johnson, ``His thinking was always ahead of everyone else's.'' Their current machines can cut up to 15-inch-thick titanium panels.
Johnson said that her father had not been ill, and that he died in his sleep. Results of an autopsy are pending, she said.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include his wife, Rebecca; daughters Tamara Ulrich of Reisterstown, Md., and Carrie Ulrich of Fridley; one granddaughter; his mother, Irene Ulrich of Buffalo, Minn.; his father, William Ulrich of Minneapolis, and brothers William, Greg and Donald of Minnesota, David of Brazil, Jerry of Florida and Richard of Texas.
Services were held Tuesday.

Published: October 12, 2002
Edition: METRO
Section: NEWS
Page#: 8B

Robert Ulrich, aircraft innovator
The technology company founder helped to develop precision-cutting techniques to make parts for the F-22, a stealth combat plane.

By Trudi Hahn, Staff Writer

Robert Ulrich, who helped develop precision cutting techniques to make parts for the F-22, a stealth combat airplane that can evade radar - died unexpectedly Oct. 4 at his home in Ham Lake. He was 53.

Ulrich was founder and president of LAI Companies, which makes precision machine components using laser and waterjet technologies in Westminster, Md., Phoenix and Fridley. Among key products made at the Twin Cities plant, LAI Midwest Inc., are titanium panels for the F-22 Raptor, a military plane being built by Lockheed Martin.

"Bob Ulrich was part of the success story of the F-22 program,'' delivering parts on time and helping reduce costs, said Larry Cameron, senior manager of airframe components for Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, Texas. LAI Midwest started working on the Raptor in 1996.

The most complicated F-22 panel the Fridley plant makes is a titanium sheet, approximately 3 feet by 2 feet, with 28,000 angled diamond-shaped precision holes. ``They all must be perfect,'' said Matt Kalina, LAI marketing director, and Ulrich helped develop the waterjet cutting machine that does the job.

Ulrich, who grew up in Robbinsdale, served two tours of duty in Vietnam, starting at age 20. By 1979, with a business degree from the University of Minnesota, he was working for the Internal Revenue Service in Colorado. A friend introduced him to a man who had developed a laser— cutting— tool but had no business expertise. Ulrich joined him and soon was improving the engineering techniques.

"He was fascinated that you could take light and cut through plastic and metal,'' said his daughter, Heather Johnson of Coon Rapids, who works for her father's company in information technology.

But lasers have a limited capacity for cutting through thick materials, and in 1987, Ulrich was one of the first to bring an abrasive waterjet cutting machine into a job shop