French aerospace company Sodern comes to Colorado's Douglas County
French aerospace company Sodern is coming to Colorado.
Sodern, known for manufacturing star trackers and space cameras, is launching Sodern America with a production line the CEO says will be 100% dedicated to U.S. customers, who make up 30% of Sodern's business.
Sodern joins a growing aerospace hub in Douglas County.
"Having a strong space hub in Colorado was one of the elements. Also having access to a very highly skilled workforce," said Tiphaine Louradour, CEO of Sodern America. "It also gives us easy access to both coasts and other space hubs in the United States."
Louradour says Colorado's existing aerospace companies and workforce made it a perfect choice.
Sodern's arrival comes just over a year after another French company, Safran Defense and Space, announced a Parker facility.
"We're getting quite the contingent, and a lot of that has to do with the international outreach that the county has done," said Ellie Reynolds, CEO of the Douglas County Economic Development Corporation. "We're just excited to have another international aerospace company locate here in Douglas County and increase that ecosystem of aerospace between the smaller suppliers and the large primes like Lockheed and Northrop Grumman."
Reynolds says the Douglas County Economic Development Corporation worked to incentivize Sodern to choose Douglas County.
"We gave them some business personal property tax, a jobs creation retention incentive, as well as the rapid response," Reynolds said.
The Colorado Economic Development Commission also approved more than $100,000 in job growth tax credits.
"We are definitely going to be hiring, and we're going to start very soon. So please be on the lookout for social media channels and other means for job announcements," said Louradour.
Louradour says Sodern will initially hire 10 production, business and sales positions locally.
Construction is ramping up at the Sodern America site in Douglas County's Meridian area, which will include a clean room, advanced testing facilities and a showroom.
Louradour says the production line will be 100% dedicated to U.S. customers, who make up 30% of Sodern's business.
"The space market in the U.S. is both dynamic and very demanding for good reasons. And those are having boots on the ground to be able to really be here on site, on location gives us a better ability to understand and anticipate market needs and evolution," said Louradour.
Sodern America hopes to be up and running by the end of the year.
Louradour says she has lived in Colorado for 25 years and is excited for Colorado to be the home of Sodern America.
"We are very excited to be here and operating in Colorado. We're going to continue to help grow the space industry in our state, and we're going to be offering high-quality or high-skilled positions in our own communities, in our own backyard," said Louradour. "I think it's very exciting, and obviously we also enjoy the sunshine that the state is known for."