Aerospace engineering design and manufacturing company​ Empirical Systems Aerospace, Inc. (ESAero) has opened a new manufacturing facility in San Luis Obispo, California. More than 70 skilled professionals in engineering, production and quality control are expected to work at the new facility, with approximately 40 new jobs being created in the process.

The facility, which includes flexible manufacturing lines, a clean room environment, laboratories, computer centers, test cells and office and conference space, will be used to “design, produce test, and certify” electric and hybrid aircraft, including unmanned aircraft.

The 32,200-square foot facility, which is “DDTC registered, ITAR compliant, and runs a ISO 9001 based Quality Management System (QMS),” will greatly increase the manufacturing capacity of ESAero, resulting in higher volumes of production and integration of UAS and larger format air vehicle systems.

“ESAero continues to advance its leading-edge designs and now has greater capacity to produce them ourselves,” says Andrew Gibson, President and Chief Executive Officer of ESAero.

“Investment in this new facility and development of greater production capacity reflects the strength of the electric and hybrid aerospace market.”

For “ease and flexibility in system testing and product development,” ESAero will keep its 8,000-square foot integration and test hanger facilities, which are located on the Oceano Airport (L52) in Oceano, California.

Industry-leading air vehicles have been equipped with ESAero’s expanding portfolio of “electric and hybrid aircraft stand-alone designs, tools, systems and components.”

Since 2008, ESAero has offered a growing collection of designs and product services, a lot of which are specific to all-electric and hybrid-electric aircraft.