Kinkisharyo’s Plant is Showing Growth

Kinkisharyo's is a light rail car assembly facility at Plant 42. It recently celebrated in its production of its 78th rail car for the Los Angeles Metro Authority. This completes their first contract with LA Metro and moves them onto a new beginning. All the manufacturing is done at the Plant 42 plant in Palmdale with about four hundred workers. It is part of an almost billion dollar contract to deliver over 200 rail cars. The recent completion triggers a new phase and new agreement with LA Metro to produce more cars, and to expand the plant. If you recall several years ago there was a big legal disagreement. The unions accused Kinkisharyo of violating environmental acts. This forced the company to consider a move to Phoenix Arizona where other manufacturing is done. The disagreement would have killed jobs in Palmdale, which the city desperately needed. The company felt the union move was ruse by the union to force the company to use its workers. The company decided to drop their factory expansion, but they later won an agreement to use an existing building once operated to make the B-1B bomber. A swords to plowshares change. Additionally the company agreed to not fight unionization. The Palmdale workers are now represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers. This success provides security and jobs in the valley, and it is not just as airplane bomber producing area, but an environmentally conscious area as it is combined with the BYD electric bus manufacturing in Lancaster. This keeps workers in the area, which busts the local economy and areas growth.

New Stealth Bomber Could Jump the Palmdale and Lancaster Economy Spring 2015

News reports indicate a big Pentagon Project which could be awarded to Palmdale, Ca. Northrop Grumman. They are bidding to make the New Stealth Bomber. Each plane could cost $550 million or more to make. Grumman already has a facility building the earlier bomber at Plant 42. Grumman and Palmdale, Ca. are in competition with Boeing on the project. This means more jobs for Antelope Valley. News reports also indicate that Sacramento legislators have passed bills to provide tax breaks for Lockheed and Grumman last summer in hopes on getting the deal. LA Times quotes Palmdale Ca. Mayor "They've indicated that they can’t talk about it but he can," Mayor James Ledford said the prospects look good. Northrop executives have said they would build substantial parts of the company's proposed bomber in Palmdale, he said, creating an estimated 1,500 jobs. Rival Lockheed Martin Corp. who is a subcontractor to Boeing Co. indicated it also plans to work on a new warplane in Palmdale, Mayor Ledford said. That means more jobs. Military officials say they want the plant to be built for $550 million each, and not the $1 Billion a plane as in the past. Sources indicate their budget is $1.2 Billion per plane, and they want to build 100 new planes starting this spring. Both Grumman and Lockheed have a track record of going over budget. Antelope Valley has a long history with high tech planes. The B-2 was built here, as well as the first Stealth Bomber, U-2 spy plane, and the F-117 stealth fighter. There has been a lot of jobs in Palmdale and LA County from aerospace through the decades of the Cold War. Even today Virgin Galactic tests their space rocket just north in Kern County at Edwards Air force Base. Winning this project will certainly help the local economy and these engineers will have to buy a home and later invest in their community.