Android anticipates growth, new jobs in Focus: HOPE partners
Source: JOHN GALLAGHER
Gov. Rick Snyder has praised the strengthening partnership. / CARLOS OSORIO/Associated Press
Auto parts supplier Android Industries said Monday that it will boost its commitment to its new manufacturing site at Focus: HOPE in Detroit and create up to 150 manufacturing jobs there by early 2013.
At an announcement Monday, Gov. Rick Snyder hailed the partnership between the company and the nonprofit Focus: HOPE training center as emblematic of the effort to reinvent Michigan's economy.
"Let's get out there and realize the true power we have as Detroiters, as Michiganders, coming together, to recognize we're in this together, and we are going to win together," Snyder said.
For the last two months, Android has leased a small amount of factory space at Focus: HOPE's manufacturing training facility on Oakman Boulevard in Detroit, where it assembles headliners and front and rear suspension modules for the Chevrolet Volt and, soon, for the Chevy Malibu. The company said its current space usage at Focus: HOPE will grow as it ramps up production.
Android CEO Jerry Elson said there were many reasons the company moved the Volt work to Focus: HOPE from a plant in Warren, among them, the proximity of the Oakman Boulevard site to General Motors' Volt assembly plant in Hamtramck. But there were other reasons, too, including the desire to help Detroit as long as there was a solid business case.
"Why is Android at Focus: HOPE? The answer is very simple: It is the right thing to do," Elson said.
Focus: HOPE CEO William F. Jones Jr. said: "We want to commend Android for its commitment to provide real jobs and real work experience for people in our community."
He added, "Ultimately, our goal is to bring jobs back into the city, and this partnership with Android does just that."
Founded in 1968, Focus: HOPE is a human-rights organization that provides various services to Detroiters in need, including a food bank and job training in its own manufacturing center.
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