A marquee global manufacturing headquarters
Flagship announced Tuesday that it will hire 125 people for a new plant in Albuquerque near Montano and I-25, and that the work force could increase to 300 within five years.
“What this business needed was a marquee global manufacturing headquarters,” Flagship CEO Rob Holland said, “ This is it – we’re proud to be here!”
Holland spoke in front of the plant, which was originally built for Albuquerque Tortilla Co., before that company was bought by Mission Foods. It’s a 76,000 square-foot plant with a huge freezer, but that isn’t what sealed the deal.
“The convincing factor was that it’s easy to do business here, and that’s where we want to do business,” said Carlos Angulo, who will oversee the Albuquerque operation for Flagship. “The hiring, the training, all of that – we can do that, we’ve done that before. But the help to get our business open, that’s it, because this is going to take a gargantuan effort, to be completely moved in by May 30.”
This is the latest in a series of new jobs announcements Gov. Susana Martinez has made in towns across the state. And Election Day is just a month away – hmmm.
“I wasn’t even aware that there was an election cycle coming up,” Holland said. “For us, it’s business. We are evaluating three or four options, and we evaluate the pros and cons, we evaluate the economics, we evaluate the people, and we make a decision based on what’s best for our business. New Mexico won!”