Honeywell Aerospace will move its Americas business operations from Phoenix, Arizona, to Guaynabo Municipality, which will inject $500 million in income taxes over the next three years.
This announcement was made by Governor Pedro Pierluisi. Honeywell Aerospace’s chief executive officer, Mike Madsen, as well as DDEC’s Secretary of Economic Development and Trade (DDEC), Manuel Cedri, after a meeting in La Fortaleza.
For the executive branch, this strategic move represented “good news in favor of our economic development” and for the Minister of Economic Development, proof that in Puerto Rico “we are the best”.
However, Madsen made it clear that changing the company’s largest business division in the world to the island is not related to the economic benefits they would receive here. thing is They will pay just 4% of the contributions they generate from selling products and services to airlines and airlines across the Americas, which total about $2.4 billion in the next three years, plus another 12% in royalties.
In Phoenix, the line of contributions the company pays is 4.9%. For this reason, the savings made with this step in the next three years will be approximately $21 million.
As the senior official explained, “There are several reasons why Puerto Rico is important to us. First of all, we have had a presence here for the past 14 years, doing engineering work to support our airline and aerospace clients. Specifically, the engineering work for the products that operate Bringing the business team here to position it with the engineering team will improve the synergy of customer response to get the job done more effectively.”
The governor explained that Honeywell Aerospace started on the island in 2007 with 12 employees. Currently, they employ over 1,000 people in their stores in Aguadilla, Moca and Guaynabo.
Both Madsen and the President have highlighted on several occasions that 80% of the engineers they hire come from Puerto Rican universities.
In Guaynabo, specifically, the company will expand the facilities it operates at Rexco Industrial Park to relocate the operation of the business district. With this expansion, they hope to hire another 100 employees on the island this year. The team will be led by Honeywell Aftermarket President in the Americas, Heath Patrick Patrick, who will move to Puerto Rico.
It turns out that Honeywell’s two other business lines are located in Europe and Asia.
The governor was particularly happy about this new approach to economic development, because it would cause Honeywell customers to come to Puerto Rico and become interested in tourism or business.
“It brings us back to the front,” he said. “This success for Honeywell is a success for all of Puerto Rico.”
Pierluisi also commented that he had expressed interest in the president of Honeywell, saying that they also see the island as an opportunity to develop in the defense field. This area also serves the aftermarket range.
For his part, Seder stated that with the entry into the business field of this company, the economic development begins to shift and expand from a base that was confined to manufacturing to a multi-sectoral base.
“This specific work that we are announcing today in the service sector, contributes to what is the economic model, and will reduce the impact or importance of manufacturing. This does not mean that we will neglect manufacturing. What I am saying is that we will share the risks among other sectors,” the Minister explained.