PORT ANGELES — One of the Port of Port Angeles’ newest tenants is projecting exponential growth and profits as it looks at expanding and hiring more than 100 employees locally in the coming years.
“We have more opportunities than we know what to do with right now,” John Nutter, chief financial officer for Airborne ECS, told those who attended the Port Angeles Business Association meeting Tuesday.
“We just need to execute.”
Nutter, who joined Airborne after serving as the CFO for the Port of Port Angeles, said that in the startup company’s first full year it has earned just under $2 million in sales, a number he said is projected to grow to $12 million or $13 million this year.
Depending how well things go, he said Airborne could earn more than $20 million this year, more than $85 million in 2019, $165 million in 2020 and $185 million in 2021.
Joyce native Bill Lee, Airborne’s CEO, moved the company from his New York home to Port Angeles last year, with the goal of expanding his virtual business into a vertically integrated manufacturer for advanced cooling systems.
The company had focused on creating cooling systems for military sensors and lasers, but is expanding to market in the civilian sector, Nutter said.
Nutter said Airborne is working on a deal with Italian plane manufacturer Piaggio to design and manufacture environmental control systems for its P.180 business jets.
“They are actually coming to Port Angeles in about three weeks to meet with us in person to meet our engineering team, go through some of the technical documents and get a contract signed,” he said.
Nutter spelled out plans for rapid expansion, saying Airborne is expecting to fill up its current facility within two years. The company is leasing only a portion of a building in the Airport Industrial Park, but will soon be able to use the entire 25,000-square-foot facility, he said.
Currently about 2,500 square feet is dedicated to office space.
“We should fill up that facility in the next two years,” he said. “We already have ongoing discussions with the port that we intend to construct an additional 25,000 square feet manufacturing facility.”
Nutter said building the workforce needed could be a challenge, but hopes that offering competitive pay and full benefits will attract talent.
“We intend to be the employer of choice, to the point we’re going to recruit people from outside of town,” he said. “We’re going to pay better than anybody else and have better benefits than anybody else. I want a line of people at the door that want to come work for us.”
He anticipated the company ending 2018 with about 30 local employees and said the company should grow to 100 or 150 employees within two or three years.
The company is working with Peninsula College to develop a 12-week training program that would include computer-aided design, drawing, reading and basic refrigeration skills.
He said there is discussion about developing a program that could lead to a two-year or four-year degree.
The company currently has 43 employees, including sub-contractors, he said. Of those employees, 11 work in the Port Angeles area.
“Those 11 jobs represent over $1 million of payroll coming into the Port Angeles economy,” he said. “We may be small right now, but we’re already having a major economic impact on this town.”
He said the goal is to have all employees eventually working from Port Angeles. As of yet, the company’s engineers do not live in Port Angeles, something Nutter said is an artifact of starting as a virtual company.
“We are really beginning to turn the corner to push ‘if you’re going to work for us, you need to live here,’ ” he said. “Getting the right talent will always come first, but whenever possible we want them located here in Port Angeles.”
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
