70 New Jobs Coming to Montgomery Township

One state's loss is another's gain.

While facilities in Baltimore and Hunt Valley, Md. are soon scheduled to close down production, jobs will soon be more plentiful in Montgomery Township, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Cobham, a maker of such products as air-to-air fuel lines, will soon need to hire 70 new employees at its Lansdale plant. The location, which is owned by a British defense company, already employs 380 people in the area.

The Montgomery Township plant on Richardson Road, according to the Cobham website, is charged with the creation of "electronic surveillance, attack and warfare products."

The closure of the Maryland plants will lead to additional jobs becoming available in 2013 here in Lansdale.

"The company employs 96 in Baltimore and 42 at Hunt Valley," said the Philadelphia Business Journal article. "It plans to close its Baltimore plant by the end of the year and move that plant’s operations to Lansdale. It plans to close its Hunt Valley plant by the third quarter and discontinue the production lines there entirely."

Those that were previously employed in Maryland will have a chance to apply for the new roles, as well.

Cobham said that its closure of the Maryland plants had to do with new contracts the British recently made with U.S. manufacturers of similar products.

"The company attributed the closings to contraction of the U.S. defense market for its products," said the PBJ.

Cobham bought the current Lansdale facility back in 2008. According to a December 2007 article in PBJ, the plant was formerly the home of BAE Systems. Cobham purchased the BAE facilities for $240 million cash.

Cobham said, on its website, that the local staff is very knowledgeable about its systems.

"Cobham Defence Electronics, Lansdale brings more than 50 years of engineering and manufacturing excellence in meeting our customers’ requirements," said its site.

Cobham is located at 305 Richardson Road in Montgomery Township.