On the heels of the presidential visit last week, Task Force Lima reconvened at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center.
Plant Director of Operations, Hank Kennedy, said the visit by President Donald Trump was "huge." Kennedy also spoke about production as the plant gets back to normal this week. He said as of late, Abrams tanks have been rolling out seven to eight a month and about 10 Stryker vehicles are produced a month. Both those are expected to increase sometime in 2020 with up to 34 Abrams completed a month and 13 Stryker vehicles. Kennedy credits the significant funding that has poured into the facility.
"You got to realize that, going from almost shutting the place down to, lets put money into it, revitalize it, get it ready for all the new production that's going on," Kennedy said. "Just stuff like that that you're not used to, just getting those upgraded, for the people, for the product. It's absolutely amazing for us."
JSMC has just begun a wave of hiring as well. First focused on welders, but will be hiring machinists and assemblers up next. Hiring will continue through next year adding near 400 jobs.
