Leahy: More Jobs On The Way To Bennington Plant

 

. . . New Year Will Bring 100 New Jobs, Plant Expansion

To Plasan USA’s Bennington Facility

 

BENNINGTON, Vt. (Monday, Nov. 19) -- The Bennington division of Plasan USA will nearly double its current workforce by adding 100 jobs and expanding its Bennington manufacturing site in the next few months, according to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who visited the firm’s workers here Monday.  The Bennington plant will manufacture armor for urgently needed armored vehicles that are being rushed to Iraq to protect U.S. troops from roadside bombs.

 

The contracts and the Bennington expansion are made possible by armored vehicle funding that Leahy’s panel insisted on in the defense budget.  Leahy is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Defense Subcommittee, which handles the Senate’s work in writing the annual defense budget that included the armored vehicle funding. 

 

Plasan is an advanced composites firm and a major subcontractor for the Department of Defense’s Mine Resistant Ambush Protection (MRAP) program.  The armor combines composites and metal structures to provide greater protection for armored vehicles, including the so-called up-armored HUMVEES.  Plasan is a global company with U.S. offices in White Plains, N.Y., and Bethesda, Md., and is headquartered in Israel.  The company opened a facility in Bennington last year – a spin off from Vermont Composites, another Bennington firm working in advanced materials.  The Bennington plant also manufactures composite parts for American automotive firms like General Motors.  An additional 43 jobs will be added to the automotive business in the next three months.

 

“Protecting our troops in the field needs to be a top priority, and this work in Bennington will help meet an urgent need,” said Leahy.  “These new jobs in Bennington will help save lives.  Roadside bombs have become the most deadly weapon used against our troops in Iraq, and the MRAP vehicle is being rushed there to protect them.  This project builds on a long tradition of precision manufacturing in the Bennington area.  Plasan has proven its ability to supply advanced armor for the program, and Plasan and Bennington are a good match.  This is important work that means life and death to our men and women serving our country overseas.”

 

Leahy said the Department of Defense plans to procure almost 20,000 of the MRAP vehicles, which provide significantly greater protection than the current U.S. inventory of armored vehicles, including so-called up-armored HUMVEES.  Plasan is partnered with lead contractor International Truck on the MRAP contract.  International and Plasan are one of three teams that won the initial contract to manufacture the vehicle.  The team is bidding on additional contracts, which will flow from more than $18 billion in additional funding that Congress has added in the past two months to procure additional MRAPS.  The firm plans to bid to renew contracts with the Defense Department, and if new contracts are secured, they could lead to additional jobs in Bennington.