TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Near Tucson International Airport there’s the new home of a company new to Tucson called Albers Aerospace. It’s building on the foundations of an existing company and the fact they are coming here says a lot about the defense industry and the technical skills available here in Southern Arizona.
When advanced weapons fly, their abilities begin with parts crafted with sophistication, precision and skill by companies like Albers Aerospace.
Albers already has operations in other parts of the country but acquiring and expanding a Tucson company called Parallel Ventures lets it tap into Tucson’s labor pool—-skilled in the precision manufacturing the company needs.
The company celebrated its’ Tucson operations with dignitaries and a more than eleven thousand dollar donation to Pima Community College—a key source of the skilled workers the company needs.
Now Albers plans to double its staff, adding 25 additional workers—people with deep skills programming and running the computerized machinery that creates reliable parts for critical weapons.
Executive VP Michael Cunningham says the company is looking for: “People who have deep roots in manufacturing, manufacturing know-how and have a passion to come to work every day and, and make a difference, for the warfighter.”
CEO John Albers says even with computer assisted manufacturing, this is work where artificial intelligence will not replace human craftsmanship.
“So you really do need the tradesmen, if you will, right? We need folks that are interested in the trades. They're gonna be good paying jobs and so a lot of the stigma, I would say the last 30, 40 years is fading because people are realizing, hey, we need good people.”
The Chamber of Southern Arizona expects Albers Aerospace to add about 36 million dollars to the local economy over the next five years—joining about two hundred aerospace and defense related companies in the Tucson area. The Chamber says that gives Tucson the 5th highest concentration of aerospace and defense workers in the US.
