Haas Automation is holding job fairs over the next several weeks as it gears up to open a massive factory in Henderson early next year.
The company, which makes machine tools for other manufacturers, is scheduled to hold career fairs on Sept. 19, Oct. 3 and Oct. 17 at Palace Station, according to a brochure, which shows that Haas is seeking operators, machinists, engineers, assemblers and other staff.
Registration for the first job fair is full, according to Haas’ website.
Peter Zierhut, vice president of outside operations at Haas, said in an interview this week that the company is on schedule to open the roughly 2.5 million-square-foot factory in the first quarter of 2027.
The massive building is on Via Inspirada at Larson Lane, just south of Henderson Executive Airport.
Zierhut said the factory could potentially have thousands of employees, though he noted the company is also looking to become more automated and more efficient.
All told, Haas’ factory has been years in the making in Southern Nevada — a region that relies heavily on tourism to fuel its casino-packed economy and has a track record of financial booms and busts.
Small segment of workforce
Officials have long sought to boost employment outside tourism, and many have cited Haas’ arrival as a key step toward diversifying the local economy.
Manufacturing accounts for around 2.6 percent of Las Vegas-area employees — while the leisure and hospitality sector comprises nearly 26 percent, by far the most of any industry locally, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
By any measure, Haas has established a huge footprint in the valley.
Its factory sits on a 164-acre spread of land, and Haas also owns around 68.5 acres across the street, where it has planned to develop commercial space for its suppliers or other users.
Overall, Zierhut put the company’s total investment into its expansion to Henderson at around $500 million.
Based in Oxnard, California, Haas is moving a lot of its production capacity to Henderson but is not closing operations in California, Zierhut said.
Pandemic delays
The Henderson City Council in February 2019 approved selling 279 acres of city-owned land to Haas for about $27.4 million. The Governor’s Office of Economic Development also approved $10.5 million in tax breaks for the venture in June 2019.
The city’s land sale to Haas closed in November 2019. At the time, Zierhut said the company expected to finish the plant in 2022.
Months later, however, the COVID-19 pandemic turned life upside down.
Haas, which sold back 44 acres to the city for about $4.4 million, broke ground on its project in fall 2020.
In late 2023, project manager Valerie Draeger sent a letter to city officials asking to extend the completion date in Haas’ development agreement to the end of 2026, citing pandemic and supply-chain issues and increased construction costs.
Last year, Zierhut said in an interview that the project faced delays due to the fallout from the public health crisis and that the company wanted to secure better pricing on its construction materials.
He noted that the price of steel, aluminum and other building materials soared after the pandemic hit, and that Haas worked with vendors “to sharpen their pencils and come up with better quotes.”
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
