“We tried for quite a few years to expand in Oregon,” said co-founder and CEO Jessica Gomez. “And as time went on, it just became very, very expensive . . . it’s just not a very business friendly state anymore.
And when you’re looking to make an investment that’s going to be around for the next 30 years, you really want to get that right. And so we spent a lot of time looking at different states. We looked at Arizona, we looked at Texas, we looked at Colorado. All of them are wonderful and have things that are great for business . . . . But one of the criteria that we had is that we really wanted to own our own building and we wanted to be in an environment where we weren’t going to be pushed to the.
wayside for . . . another large foundry build because we are small”. She described the area on the Space cost as a “wonderful fit”.
There is a lot of technology, manufacturing and the state is working hard to attract these kind of companies, she said. A significant draw is that the purchase of the building was about half the cost and about 30% larger than would have been possible in Oregon.
As well as tripling existing capacity, the site will also include childcare facilities. This is marking big strides for US employees with families. “It is not routine for a company to provide childcare or to provide a support for childcare for employees here. . . . If you have a baby, you might get three months off to spend with baby . . . some places offer up to six months, but it’s rare. If you are a working mom you are expected to take your baby and either leave them at home with a nanny, family member or or bring them to a child care centre and it’s very expensive for infant care,” said Jessica, herself a mother of 11 and 14 year old daughters.
“A lot of working moms just decide it’s not worth it. I’m spending my salary all on childcare. I don’t have that connection with my baby anymore and it’s taxing from an emotional perspective as well.
She feels this could be the root of a lot of women dropping out of engineering careers. She brought her own daughters into the office a week after their births and had someone travelling with her to help when she took the babies to meetings, customer visits or during conference calls.
She knows this is a luxury most women do not have access to, which is why one of the things she wanted to do in Florida was make sure the workplace was family-friendly. “We weren’t going to separate mums and babies, and we were going to try to retain that amazing workforce of young parents . . . support them the best that we can and and try to provide an experience that was as close to what we had”.
This drive became the genesis of of the childcare portion of the new facility. The abundance of land means there is the room and being the owner and operator of the childcare centre means the company can bring down the cost for parents, Jessica told Electronics Weekly in the latest CHIIPs podcast.
There is a cost to it, but there’s also a cost to recruiting and training new staff and bringing them onboard. It takes about six months to train a new process technician, said Jessica, so in addition to their salary and that of the employee training them. “How much does it really cost to have that turnover and and really lose an incredible employee because they don’t have the right support?” she asked.
You can listen to more of Jessica’s thoughts on starting and growing a MEMS company and how to attract and retain women to STEM careers in the new CHIIPs podcast.
