PORT ANGELES — Angeles Composite Technologies Inc. will hire between 30 and 40 new employees during the next few months, said the company’s president, Mike Rauch, on Tuesday.
Rauch’s comment comes just a day after the formal announcement of a lease agreement for Peninsula Plywood, requiring the restructured plywood mill to hire 60 workers by year’s end.
Angeles Composite’s plans for hiring are a result of increases in demand for two companies — Bombardier Aerospace and Lockheed Martin — that contract with Port-Angeles based ACTI, which builds composite aircraft parts.
Another contract with Lockheed Martin is in the works, Rauch said, and if that is finalized, it could triple the staff at the company, which now employs 87 people.
The programs needed for the present contract expansions “will fit within our current operation right now,” Rauch said.
“When that contract is signed, it will be a different story.”
The company is filling in-creases in demand for the Bombardier Aerospace Q-400 airplane and the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter program.
Among other customers of the company at 2138 W. 18th St. are Boeing, Lear, Bell Helicopter and the Air Force.
“We aren’t yet sure what the manning plan will be,” Rauch said.
He said that the company probably will hire a few people at a time over the next several months.
“People might notice that one week we’ll have five positions up, and the next we might have two or three, and so on.”
Positions available vary from leadership to production, as well as in the manufacturing and quality assurance departments, Rauch said.
“It could be a challenge, trying to hire people at the same time as PenPly is hiring,” he added.
Peninsula Plywood on Monday announced that it is accepting applications for some managers now.
The plywood mill plans to hire about 60 employees by the end of the year.
The ACTI jobs will be posted at Clallam County WorkSource, Rauch said.
The jobs can be viewed by visiting https://fortress.wa.gov/esd/worksource and selecting Port Angeles in the drop-down menu.
“We are also working with Peninsula College on training and also with the [North Olympic Peninsula] Skills Center to prepare people to work for us,” Rauch said.
ACTI was given the Nunn-Perry Award in April.
It is given to prime defense contractors that have significantly improved the business infrastructure and technical capabilities of historically under-utilized businesses.
The Nunn-Perry Award is named for former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense William Perry.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
