Avant Technology to bring 150 jobs to Pflugerville

By Kathryn Eakens Thursday, 19 November 2009

PFLUGERVILLE — The Pflugerville Community Development Corporation has finalized an agreement with Avant Technology Inc. to help facilitate the company’s move to Pflugerville, which will bring approximately 150 jobs to the area by January 2010.

Established in 1985, Avant Technology manufactures dynamic random access memory modules for clients worldwide in the computing, data and telecommunication industries.

“We basically buy, sell and manufacture memory modules—anything from your standard laptop and desktop to server units and flash units,” Todd Hector, the company’s general manager, said. “Avant is probably the largest memory manufacturer in North America.”

The company will relocate its corporate headquarters from Burnet Road in Austin to a 1 million sq. ft. industrial office park, Verde Springbrook Corporate Center, located near the intersection of State Highway 45 and Heatherwilde Boulevard at 828 New Meister Lane.

The PCDC, which promotes economic development and employment in the city, will pay up to $568,500 in incentives related to Avant’s relocation to the city. $425,458 will be paid to Verde Corporate Realty Service toward the finish out required for Avant’s manufacturing space. The remaining $143,042 will be paid to Avant Technology for capital equipment improvements.

In return for the incentives, Avant agrees to maintain a manufacturing operation in Pflugerville for at least five years, employ at least 130 people during the first year of operation, and purchase more than $143,042 in capital equipment for the Pflugerville facility.

Avant’s new space in Verde Springbrook will be almost double that of it’s current facility—an increase from 26,000 to 50,400 sq. ft.—which Hector expects to increase both Avant’s efficiency and production.

“We’re looking at increasing our capital equipment, so our overall output—not just our efficiencies—is going to increase by probably 30 or 40 percent,” Hector said. “We currently have seven production lines. We’re going to go into the new building with probably 10 to 12 lines, and we’ll have the ability to increase to up to 14.”

The future expansion of production lines will also mean an increase in Pflugerville’s daytime population. Hector said Avant will eventually employ about 150 people, and that the number could continue to grow depending on the growth of the company.

Until recently, Pflugerville residents had no other option but to leave the city to shop and work. But since 2006, one of the main economic development goals of the city has been to create a daytime population where citizens can do more than just live in Pflugerville.

“We are continuing on our road to shift Pflugerville from a bedroom community to a community where our residents have the chance to not only live in Pflugerville but to work in Pflugerville,” Pflugerville Mayor Jeff Coleman said. “We are continually working on bringing more businesses in town, both for that reason and because it helps improve our daytime population, which helps improve our business environment for our retail centers and our restaurants, etc. and it creates a higher taxable value on their location.”