U.S. REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS WELCOMES EXPANSION BY SARGENT AEROSPACE & DEFENSE
Congresswoman applauds announcement that locally based company will expand its Marana plant
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today welcomed an announcement by Sargent Aerospace & Defense that it will expand its facility in Marana, northwest of Tucson.
Sargent announced this week that it will expand its current 60,000-square-foot plant by building an adjacent 70,000-square-foot building.
Giffords, a member of House Armed Services Committee, called the expansion a welcome boost to Southern Arizona’s economy.
"Sargent’s expansion should serve as a signal to other companies that Southern Arizona is ready, willing and able to provide quality employees for work in the aerospace and defense fields," the congresswoman said.
Giffords’ full statement is below.
According to Sargent, the increased capacity is required to support the growth of key programs such as the Virginia class submarine, the Boeing 787, the Airbus A350 commercial aircraft and Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The expansion will mean the addition of an undetermined number of jobs in specialty aerospace design, manufacturing, test engineering, program management and highly skilled manufacturing such as computed numerically controlled machine programmers, operators and test technicians.
The company has been in the Tucson area since 1990 and currently employs about 250 people.
Sargent is a leading supplier of precision-engineered components. It is an operating company within Dover Corporation’s Industrial Products Segment.
Giffords’ statement:
Plans by Sargent Aerospace and Defense to expand its Marana operations and bring more well-paid jobs to Southern Arizona reinforce the strong and rapidly growing high-tech segment of this region’s economy.
One of the key factors in Sargent’s decision to expand its Tucson-area operations is the large number of workers highly trained in defense and space-related manufacturing, research and development, industrial high-tech fields, assembly, distribution and warehousing.
Sargent’s expansion should serve as a signal to other companies that Southern Arizona is ready, willing and able to provide quality employees for work in the aerospace and defense fields.
I also applaud Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities and its Joe Snell, its president and CEO, for working with Sargent to bring these new jobs to the Tucson area.
The Arizona economy was hit hard by the economic downturn. But thanks to the hard work of TREO and the foresight of Sargent Aerospace and Defense, new jobs are coming and the economic picture is improving.