HENDERSON (KTNV) — Construction has officially begun on a new Haas Automation manufacturing facility in Henderson.
Earlier this month, the company held a ceremonial groundbreaking with Haas founder and CEO Gene Haas, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, Henderson Mayor Michelle Romeo, and City of Henderson Councilman Dan Shaw.
While the groundbreaking is the official start of construction, Peter Zierhut, Vice President, Outside Operations for Haas Automation, previously told me that Haas has already put over $100 million into the site.
"We started about three years ago. We put over a year of work into grading that property, which was a significant project," Zierhut said. "What starts this month is actually vertical construction and the construction of the factory itself."
He added that Nevada seemed like a good fit for the company, who has their world headquarters in Oxnard, California.
"Henderson and Nevada have made it very easy for us to secure land and build a factory fairly quickly. We have had some delays but it was due to the pandemic and not their fault," Zierhut said. "I think Nevada, overall, is just so much more business-friendly than other parts of the country that we've looked at. It's been an easy and wonderful process."
It's something Haas also emphasized at the groundbreaking.
"I've been in the machine tool business for 50 years and this building will reflect that experience. Nevada fits our personality. We are a small company by California standards and Nevada is a small state but people here are more direct and get things done. You are not afraid to build here," Haas said. "It is a beautiful piece of land. Our goal is to turn it into a manufacturing sector. We will be moving our operations here under one roof."
Initially, the factory will hire 200 to 300 workers and that workforce is projected to grow to 2,500 jobs over the next 10 years.
"Primarily, it's going to be workers to build our product, assembly line workers. That's a skill level like, say, a mechanic, somebody that can assemble, build, follow instructions and drawings. It's not heavy-duty work. It's something that we can train fairly easily," Zierhut explained. "The rest of it is machinists, warehouse workers, engineers, a lot of engineers in both mechanical and electrical engineering, as well as manufacturing engineers."
According to Lombardo, manufacturing is booming across our state.
"From 2012 to 2022, manufacturing jobs in Nevada have increased by 61%, while overall employment in the state grew by 26%," Lombardo said. "Advanced manufacturing will enable our state to attract quality employers and good-paying jobs that contribute to economic diversity and resilience."
Economic diversification has been a big topic across the valley as local leaders look for ways to bolster our economy.
"The City of Henderson went through a whole target industry study. When we went through this study, what
we found is there are target industries like logistics management and technologies," said Jared Smith, the Director of Economic Development and Tourism for the City of Henderson. "We're also building back-end artificial intelligence to monitor those industries so that we are understanding, in real-time, those industries and how they're doing here in the City of Henderson."
Smith added that being business-friendly while adapting workforce programs to the needs of incoming companies will make our community stronger.
"Any community that cannot say they are not business-friendly aren't even going to be in the discussion for large business growth. It's also about being proactive with businesses. What are we doing? How are we putting our money and our strategy where these companies need us to," Smith said. "I think it's about economic mobility and economic opportunity that this training can give our residents. Whatever a company needs, Henderson offers it."
PROJECT FAST FACTS:
- 165 acres are under development
- 2.65 million cubic yards of earth have been transported
- 175,000 cubic-yards of native materials were crushed and utilized on-site
- 500 million pounds of gravel is being used
- 70 million pounds of asphalt is being used
- 204,000 cubic yards of concrete is being used
- 1 million square feet of landscape planting
- 2,140 LED high bay fixutes
- 30,500 fire sprinkler heads
