BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — With an infusion of investor cash, CMP Advanced Mechanical Solutions of Canada is reequipping its Binghamton plant to better match the industries it serves and will create new jobs in the process. The company opened the Binghamton location in 2006 and primarily performed work for the semiconductor industry, says Jarrod Connolly, director […]
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — With an infusion of investor cash, CMP Advanced Mechanical Solutions of Canada is reequipping its Binghamton plant to better match the industries it serves and will create new jobs in the process.
The company opened the Binghamton location in 2006 and primarily performed work for the semiconductor industry, says Jarrod Connolly, director of program management for the Quebec–based company.
“Over the past few years, we’re starting to retool Binghamton a little bit,” he says. These days the plant primarily serves the energy storage container market. “We’ve made some significant investments in some equipment.”
That new equipment includes a large new form-factor production line for large-format machining and weldment construction of energy storage containers at the 250,000-square-foot plant at 90 Bevier St. CMP is also investing in new automated technology.
With the strong growth happening in the energy storage market, CMP is growing fast, Connolly says. The company will add anywhere from 75-150 employees over the next three to five years, he says. The plant currently employs 140 people.
“As we grow, there will definitely be opportunity in all sections of the business,” Connolly says. To fill those jobs, CMP’s human resources department is developing a strategy to recruit people. He expects the strategy will include traditional job listings, as well as efforts like job fairs and meeting with area schools and colleges.
Positions include welders, assemblers, programmers, engineers, and material handlers. “We try to develop each of our employees,” Connolly notes. The company works with each employee to create a career-development path that includes cross training and cross functionality. That way, he says, the employee gains skills and the company adds valuable employees that can work in various roles. While the primary market is energy storage, CMP also supports the capital equipment, security, and light-rail markets from its Binghamton facility.
CMP’s funding for the upgrades comes from a new partnership with Fonds de solidarite FTQ, which recently became a minor shareholder in the company. The Quebec investment company has 734,580 shareholders and invests in efforts to help develop a green economy. It has $18.3 billion in assets and has invested in more than 3,400 companies.
“It gives us the resources to invest in the technology to retool our factories,” Connolly says of the deal with Fonds de solidarite FTQ. CMP did not disclose terms of the investment, and Connolly did not say how much his company is spending in Binghamton.
CMP Advanced Mechanical Solutions also has plans to open a zero-carbon plant near Quebec by 2024. The company’s blueprint going forward is to support an environmentally friendly manufacturing model.
The company focuses on manufacturing for what it calls “disruptive industries” that push innovation – energy storage, warehouse automation, security, light rail, and transport. CMP designs, engineers, and manufactures mechanical, sheet metal, and machined systems and enclosures for those markets. Between its two manufacturing facilities, CMP employs 650 people.