Contractor expands in Harbour View
Published 10:17 pm Thursday, September 19, 2013
A high-end data analytics company plans to keep adding employees after officially opening a new location in Harbour View.
Thursday’s ribbon-cutting in the Bridgeway Technology Center on Harbour View Boulevard marked Applied Technical Systems’ second relocation within Suffolk in recent years, said Doug West, vice president of ATS’ maintenance support group.
Mayor Linda T. Johnson and company officials cut the ribbon to open the new Harbour View location of technology company Applied Technical Systems on Thursday. Relocating within Harbour View, the company has doubled its floor space in anticipation of future growth. Councilmen Roger Fawcett and Lue Ward were also at the event.
Most recently, the company was down the road on Champions Way, West said. It first came to Suffolk in 2006.
“It’s the proximity for many of our employees,” he said Thursday, explaining attraction of Harbour View. “A lot live out in Western Branch or Suffolk. Personally, for me, I live seven minutes from here.”
ATS has nearly doubled its Suffolk floor space to 5,500 square feet. The company provides “readiness and maintenance solutions” — according to its website — to the U.S. Navy, and has other locations in Washington state and Alexandria.
“We do a lot of our work out of this office for the Navy,” West said. “Our primary customers (within the Navy) are actually out of D.C. and NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Crane, Illinois.”
The company says demand for its services is increasing in the commercial market, driven by the rise of “big data … user-centered applications … (and) effective decision-making tools.”
“We had the opportunity to expand our space to accommodate our planned future growth,” West said.
“We have developed technology that many new customers are interested in. We do maintenance affordability analysis — we developed a tool that allows us to look into the data deeper than anyone has before, to make smarter decisions.”
The company hopes to grow in Suffolk from 30 logistics analysts now to 55 within the next two to three years, West said.
In a news release, Rick Leenstra Sr., its chairman and CEO, said ATS would “continue to focus our momentum on sustainable, strategic growth.”
“Data is being created at break-neck speeds, and businesses need ATS to help them make sense of that data if they are going to remain competitive and innovative,” he said.
Mayor Linda T. Johnson, before wielding her giant scissors during the ribbon-cutting ceremony, said the city is appreciative of the company’s commitment to Suffolk.
“You are such an important part of the city because, as we get the cyber command in here, we are going to see just how important all of this is to our city,” she said.
“It’s the future of our city.”
