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Mayor Shari Buck announces that solar power company Amonix will locate its new plant in North Las Vegas during a press conference Tuesday morning at City Hall, 2200 Civic Center Drive. The manufacturing plant will create 278 jobs.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 | 12:01 p.m.
A sign displays what the Amonix solar power plant in North Las Vegas will look like. The manufacturing plant will create 278 jobs.
New solar plant
A new solar project that will bring 278 jobs to North Las Vegas is a welcomed boost to the city in the valley hardest hit by the Great Recession.
Amonix, a California-based solar power company, announced at a morning news conference it would construct a manufacturing facility at 4975 N. Pecos Road in the Golden Triangle Industrial Park near the Craig Road and Interstate 15 interchange.
Mayor Shari Buck said she had been on “pins and needles” waiting to hear where Amonix would locate its new plant. She said she was thrilled when she found out the company had chosen North Las Vegas.
“We’re going green, but … we’re making sure our economic development supports local businesses,” Buck said. “This is a sure investment in the future of North Las Vegas.”
The city’s unemployment rate is 15.9 percent, Buck said.
The Sun on Monday reported the company’s decision to move to North Las Vegas. City leaders and company officials discussed the jobs and the company’s plans today.
The company will begin hiring workers immediately for management, production and technical jobs. Amonix plans to have its plant completed and producing by the end of the year.
At the plant, workers will build components for solar-energy systems to be used by municipalities and other large clients, officials said.
Residents can visit the company’s website to apply for jobs, said Amonix Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Operations Vahid Ghassemian. He said the company also plans to place newspaper ads to publicize the openings.
Buck said the company has agreed to try to hire as many workers from North Las Vegas and Southern Nevada as possible. The jobs are also permanent, she said, so they won’t disappear once renovations to the building are complete.
“We’re looking at any business that wants to come in that provides good, permanent jobs for our residents,” Buck said.
The company announced in May that it would build a manufacturing plant in Southern Nevada. Amonix CEO Brian Robertson said the company had been looking at a site in Henderson and two sites in North Las Vegas as potential spots for the expansion.
Officials pose after announcing that Amonix, a solar power company, will locate a manufacturing plant in North Las Vegas. The plant will create 278 jobs. Pictured are (left to right) Vice President of Economic Development for the Nevada Development Authority Christopher Zunis, North Las Vegas Mayor Shari Buck, Amonix CEO Brian Robertson and Amonix Senior Vice President of Marketing Operations Vahid Ghassemian.
Robertson said Amonix chose to expand in North Las Vegas, in part, because the city was able to help it meet deadlines for building and production. The building they chose also had railroad and interstate access for easier shipping of materials, he said.
“They city was very accommodating,” Robertson said. “We need to get it built quite quickly.”
Robertson said Nevada is the ideal location to expand the solar energy business because sunlight is plentiful and nearly constant year-round.
“It will be our main, core plant for the Southwest,” he said.
Christopher Zunis, vice president of economic development for the Nevada Development Authority, said the average pay for the 278 jobs would be $18 per hour, plus benefits.
During the next five years, Zunis estimated the economic impact of the plant – calculated from a model using capital investment, number of jobs, salaries and money spent within the community – would be $608 million.
The new plant will also drum up $9.5 million in local tax revenue and $2.5 million in state tax revenue during the next five years, Zunis said.
The company said it is paying for the expansion with a $5.9 million tax credit from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and $12 million from private investors.
With the addition of 278 jobs, does Harry Reid get to claim that he has now saved or created 50,000 jobs for Souther Nevada? His math teacher should be investigated.
Hey Louis, you forget about other jobs created supplying Amonix, but what do you care as long as you get to trash Harry.
FWIW:
The following was the ONLY position found to be offered from website in the Nevada location:
Plant Controller (Nev)
Location: Nevada
Job Code: 56
# of openings: 1
Description
Amonix is the leading designer and manufacturer of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar power systems which require no water in power production, use land more efficiently, and produce more energy per acre than any other solar technology. Amonix was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Seal Beach, CA, with additional facilities in Torrance, CA. With 20 years in business, 15 years of real-world CPV deployments, and seven generations of system development, Amonix is the proven best choice for utility-scale solar in sunny and dry climates. Designed for utility-scale installations, Amonix systems deploy quickly and achieve optimal performance and reliability while delivering renewable energy at industry-leading low operating costs based on 25% system efficiency (31% module, 39% production cell). Amonix CPV technology has been rigorously field-tested at 16 locations throughout the Southwestern US and in Spain. This unparalleled real-world CPV experience, coupled with highly skilled employees and a management team with deep expertise in solar, finance, technology, and manufacturing, makes Amonix the clear leader in the CPV industry. Amonix is excited to launch a new state of the art manufacturing facility in Nevada. The Plant Controller position will be a key leader in this exciting startup.
Scope:
Key business partner working with the plant manager and his staff to run the daily activities of the plant. Partners with all plant staff and plant manager to drive the financial performance to the appropriate targets as identified in the business plan, budget and forecasts. Partners with the plant manager in determining future plans/financial expectations. Key lead in driving financial performance and working with the organization to drive for cost improvements, initiatives and KPI targets.
Key Responsibilities:
* Leads site accounting activities including developing accounting processes consistent with Amonix, Inc, deploying standard processes, ensuring compliance with corporate accounting policies and ensuring appropriate standards of internal control exist and are followed.
cont-
* Ensures the site is compliant with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and statutory accounting requirements.
* Accountable to Amonix Chief Financial Officer.
* Drives initiatives in Finance/Accounting relating to the following areas in the plant: general accounting, accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory, property accounting, monthly closing procedures, inter-company and provision/accrual activities.
* Ensures all financial reporting is completed accurately and timely.
* Keeps the CFO and Sr VP, Manufacturing Operations advised of all potential operational issues.
Qualifications/Experience:
Bachelors Degree in Accounting; CPA, CMA and/or Masters in Accounting a plus Minimum 15 years experience in accounting/finance roles.
* 6-8 years experience in factory as a senior finance manager or plant controller.
* 6-8 years in general accounting and/or audit/internal controls.
* Experience implementing a general ledger system
* Experience with Epicor and/or Oracle a plus
* Experience with large general ledger tools required
Additional Qualifications:
Excellent organizational, analytical and communication skills. Excellent leadership skills. Excellent understanding of cost accounting and general accounting. Ability to understand complex processes and project management requirements. Strong Knowledge of US GAAP.
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lol the guy sitting down in the back looks worried/nervous about the whole thing. haha
Another victory for Senator Ried to go the extra mile to bring another 278 jobs to the Valley, since it is not a U.S. senator's job to create jobs according to Sharron "Untangle" Angle.
What remains to be seen is how many locals will score a job there.
Gee, just what a company needs to welcome then to the area, a number of snotty off the wall comments on the web.
Oh well, Here are mine:
If Reid is responsible for job losses, then he is responsible for job gains. Is Reid responsible for job gains in Oregon, New Mexico and Michigan? or just losses.
Why don't we have Nevada legalize indentured servitude and slavery? That will attract a lot of companies.
Well at least one company has decided that Nevada is a good place to be. Question is how many Nevadans will it really employ if there website shows only one open position. Secondly are these new hires from North Las Vegas where this would help there unemployment rate or they from other cities?
@ cinderella uhhh they are building them here, but its okay knock the whole "new industry to nevada" thing and keep spending your dollars at wal mart while complaining about a company being a middleman for cheap chineese products. No one will catch on.
haha,
there's shari buck once again sticking her face out there as a "look what i did" photo-op, yet she never comes out of her office when there's a murder in "her" town.
Reid had nothing to do with Amonix coming to town. Amonix has been doing business in Nevada for years and are in a position to expand, and Nevada is a good fit because of it location to other states that are turning to solar for renewable energy. Remember these jobs will not be here for another two year, but the construction jobs will help local unions. I wish Amonix would make solar energy more affordable for the average home owner, like the cell phone business did for portable phone service which use to be for the rich. I think there is a demand for homeowners who want to reduce their energy bill by going to solar. I for one would love to rid myself from using NV Energy and have solar but I cannot afford the big price tag. If getting solar energy was $5,000, I would get it today. It nice to see new industry coming to Nevada but its going to take a lot of Amonixs to get Nevada going in the right direction. Thank you Amonix for making Las Vegas part of your company, now it time for the Chamber of Commerce to get more companies like Amonix to do business in Las Vegas.
Let's see. Harry Reid convinced Amonix to come and invest here. The company is able to do so thanks to a $5.9 million grant via the Recovery Act, which Reid made sure to pass. And now, Amonix is building the plant in North Las Vegas and hiring 278 local workers.
And we're supposed to be angry at Reid for this?
Sharrontology Obtuse Angle would NEVER have fought for this, as she says, "It's not my job to create jobs". Since the only job Sharrontology is concerned about is her own, why should we lose the Senate Majority Leader for this wackadoodle?
So if the plant is in No. Las Vegas, I guess you will need to speak Spanish in order to get hired ??
NLV unemployment is 15.9% and is still 15.9% even with the 278 jobs. I wonder how many jobs are already taken by people who are moving with the company here? Like Harley posted, there is one opening listed and most in NLV are nowhere near qualified to even apply for that posting. What a joke.
Does anybody know what has happen with A-Power and their search for a location for a wind turbine manufacturing facility?
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/mar...
"Their business model is unsustainable so they have to live off of federal grants, credits and subsidies."
Build things, sell at a profit. Yep, that has NEVER worked for any company in this country.
Have to wonder why any company would want to come to Vegas with the type of ignorant comments that get posted on the News Paper web sites.
Mred;
Did you submit your appliction?
This is nice, but it won't make any difference overall. I am not sure anything will help at this point, Clark county area is in such a hole I am not sure it is coming out during my lifetime. The recent TIME magazine article about bankrupt states lists Nevada as the state with the largest deficit based on percentage to taxable income. Where were our fearless leaders 3 years ago when this thing started to melt down? All of our current elected officials except Titus were exactly where they are now doing exactly what they are doing now - Nothing.
Birdie...
Get a job...
any job...
we all will be happy...
so you can focus on work...
and less on hate...
God loves you...
CinderallaDream: Amonix sources or makes nearly all its parts in America. Our Fresnel lens comes from 3M in Minneapolis. Our inverter comes from Solectria in Massachusetts. Our semiconductor wafer is made by Boeing in Sylmar, CA and processed into cells by Amonix in Torrance, CA (currently). These parts are manufactured and assembled into the final goods in California (currently), and soon, in Nevada in much bigger scale. There is no part of our supply chain that is Chinese. Our 40% efficient cell was developed for solar power systems used to power defense satellites in space, so the US government tries pretty hard to ensure these cells are made and stay in the USA, not China. Those are the facts about Amonix.
Harley: On hiring, we are starting with our plant manager and HR manager. Hiring ~300 people entails interviewing 1500 - 3000 people. This is an enormous amount of work and time to get a plant up and running. Our human resources group has to be set up first to work with the state to screen a large number of people to hire and fill these positions.
We are happy to engage with the community and look forward to being part of the Nevada economy.
Sincerely,
Brian Robertson
CEO, Amonix
Brian Robertson: Don't pay attention to these guys. They would spit on you if you handed them a $100 bill.
Thank you for bringing jobs to the Vegas valley. They are desperately needed.
I went to the website and only 3 jobs are listed for Nevada. HR Manager, Plant Controller, Plant Manager, none of which I am qualified for. Lot of hype and BS.
Back in the 70s and 80s, solar fraud was rampant. Outlandish claims dominated the market. Bulsh*t landed on roofs. For a while.
Early day computers, like Radio Shack TRS-80 had flaws. Babies mule and puke.
Learning curves are real.
So Amonix is a welfaring, good-weather friend with 13 year-old Chinese girls making products for a bowl of rice and millions landing in fleecy pockets. Wanna change it? Me too.
It ain't the solar thing that's bad; it's the sneaky front men takin in all the dough and blowing all the hot air. Can we please get down to business; this place is gettin to the turning point, and if all we ever do is get screwed by frauds, then we'll end up dead.
We don't need the lies and crap for our treasure.
Either get it right FIRST TIME or get the hell out of my state and if you come back in the night our coyotes will dine.
What a pile of crap. As a local, I'm utterly incensed that this wool has been slipped over our eyes by all those weasels taking credit when shame should turn them inside out.
Let's take 'em and stake 'em out for dinner. Maybe find a small bottle of female 'coyote in heat' scent and slather those hind sides.
Whether they are bringing 250 people with jobs or hiring 250 people for jobs it will help! I do not like the government contract incentive as all companies will expect a handout in order to show up here. The truth is every state gives up something to get a new office building/company to start up there.
Hooking up with Amonix sure looks like slavers capitalizing on the plight of captive children in a destitute world with no rights, dignity or humanity.
They sure seemed in a hurry to have the deal signed, huh?
Lotsa locals are being overlooked while we're looking overseas for cheap goods and don't seem to give a hoot about either ours or theirs, huh? Peoples, that is.
Goods too, but peoples.
First do no harm.
Look at who we're cooperating with, and whom we are clearly co-opting.
Coulda been the right place; must a been the wrong time.
From the Amonix website:
"This plant will have a total annual capacity of 150 MW when fully loaded with around 300 employees."
Perhaps Mr. Robertson can kindly explain to the community -- how a facility hosting 300 employees selling electricity at an average retail price of less than 10-cent per kilowatt hour will turn a profit with a TOTAL ANNUAL capacity of 150-Megawatts?
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Not funny jokes.
Smells more like a hoax.
Got all our money,
Callin' evrybody honey
But instead of buzzin, it croaks.
The new SOLAR SONG to the tune of The Clapper
Jump in. Jump out. Jump in, jump out. Go solar!
The practice of 'dumping'; BUILD CHEAP, SELL CHEAP!
Any questions? Ya, Nevada, got a problem?
"Yes, song-god, could you sing of the way out from our yoke. We bought us a solar joke. It cost us some dough, but won't work no mo' and we're both glowing and growing broke."
Rembrandt could have done that photo of the Chinese guy carrying on his back the other Chinese guy at water's edge, covered in black oil and struggling to find his way out of the hell with his friend who'd barely made it.
Didn't Revelations warn us of stuff like this?
Look at that Chinese guys's face carryin his blackened amigo. Rembrandt, wake us up!
Let us pick up the carry and carry it ON. He is carryin for you and me, Vegas, Bellevue and Udde. His eyes struggle for footspots. Our struggle is no different. Oil embodies us.
Brian-
Thanks for bringing something to Southern Nevada that has some chance of not being dependent on discretionary income. Most of these idiots really are without clue how one builds a support structure prior to setting up the rest of the company. The fact that you are first looking for a plant controller so soon after the announcement says a great deal about your commitment to hire from local pools.
Best of luck in your endeavor.
JSin
For you complaining they not offering jobs your qualified for yet.
Think about something.
THE PROJECT IS NOT BUILT YET! There is no place for you to work yet.
Common sense has gone totally out of the picture here. No wonder some of you can't get jobs.
270 jobs is not going to make that big of a difference overall.. So everyone that thinks its great can go stand in line when interviews start to be turned down out of the thousands that will be applying for these few jobs... Some of you make it sound like this,,the savior that is gonna make this town roll again... Oh its gonna roll alright,, the same way ,, downhill....So dont get your hopes up on the new job.....It all adds up to whoooooppeeeeddooooo...you got it,,nothing....
Do you have to live in North Las Vegas, to apply ?
Actually, no, Wolfdog,
most employees will be arriving from zingchoa or chiang foo. Maybe a few from shanghai and bongthong.
Have to trash harry He has been a senator for how long?All he has accomplished is to cut medicare by 500 billion dollars.He will give amnesty to the illegals .Is that what you want?A vote for harry is a vote for Obama.I personally have had enough of both.
Hey! Wow. I'm surprised at how many people actually concerned. If Amonix really are focusing on manufacture and US business partners this is a good thing. I don't know if this is true or not, but if it isn't there are plenty of other things this "free money" could be spent on. There is a Chinese company in Oregon called Grape Solar who are the worst example of an economic hit from China. In fact they are a shell corporation for a Chinese manufacturer called NESL Solartech- who ship the solar panels with the Grape Solar sticker. NESL are also distributing the exact same panels on the US solar market. Add company x,y, and z and you have an exponential misrepresentation of the same panels, as well as, profit for the mother-ship (Manufacturer in China.) Apparently Grape Solar promised 300 jobs in Oregon and 150 jobs in WA (All in assembly, not manufacturing...)Of course they just wanna save on shipping costs and tariffs, not really bring any sustainable jobs to the state... bunch of mumbo jumbo. Great way to gain public, political, and investor attention though huh? And sitting on a pile of below cost panels is a win-win situation anyway. especially when the manufacturer has an office 98.9 miles away in Tualatin, Oregon. Guess who's banking? Anyone pulling the strings and showing them trough the back door. Any foreign business corporation with that much advantage has our politicians bending backwards for them. Even if they're lying. Again, if Amonix is really focused on US manufacture, they deserve the support to make the US the global leader in renewables. BUT MAKE 100% SURE!
Brian, how do you like your hearty welcome on this bog, posing as a blog? LOL
Excluding ignorant rants & raves (another LOL), you are hearing the voices of desperation from the mud level, which is rising rapidly.
I suspect that few current residents actually have any expertise, work experience or even rudimentary knowledge of solar power production.
Burning organics was not a very bright idea to begin with.
What are the chances of promoting local education and training classes?
Is there any chance of fast-track expansion and maybe exporting sun power?
...or are the political moats too deep: big oil walls, too high?