Hundreds of new jobs coming to Hillsborough County manufacturing plant

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A new manufacturing plant in Hillsborough County means hundreds of new jobs for the area, and could be an anchor to attract other business to the Bay Area.

Advanced Airfoil Components may not sound familiar, at first, but there are already 75 employees working at the manufacturing site

The brand new 210,000 square-foot plant still has a lot of empty space, but over the next five years more equipment will be added, and about 350 workers will be hired.

"This plant is a highly-skilled manufacturing facility. We have a lot of automation, but we also have a lot of employees who are doing skilled labor in order to get the casting parts out," Quality Engineer Sarah Blanchard said.     

The location will be churning out precision metal components, made using wax patterns and molds.  

The blades and vanes made at the plant are parts for gas turbines, the heart of a power plant producing energy for homes and businesses.

"These parts can go to Taiwan, Korea, Germany, Africa. All over the world, you will see parts out of Tampa, Florida,” said Tim Holt, Siemens Power Generation Services CEO.

Friday was the grand opening of Advanced Airfoil Components. Now, production at the facility will start ramping up.           

Local leaders say the plant is a huge win for the county.

"This is the kind of keynote and signature project that will continue to help us grow and develop the manufacturing industry in the Tampa Bay region,” Jim Weiss, the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation 2021 Incoming Chairman.