The Lockheed Martin Corporation and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced the establishment of up to 50 new jobs in the Binghamton area associated with national postal programs. The announcement was made during a diversity supplier conference for New York state small businesses.

The conference is part of an outreach program developed by Lockheed Martin to strengthen ties with small businesses throughout the nation. It is designed to help small businesses learn how to work with Lockheed Martin and become a certified supplier. More than 200 owners and representatives of businesses based in New York attended the company's first New York State Small Business Supplier Conference at the Best Western Binghamton Regency Hotel and Conference Center.

During the conference, Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies President Judy Marks announced that her business is expanding its manufacturing capacity as a result of the deployment of several postal programs. According to Marks, Lockheed Martin plans to hire up to 50 persons now through the first quarter of 2004 to support manufacturing and subassembly work at a 125,000-square-foot facility leased by the company in Apalachin, NY.

"Partnerships like this one are critical to the future of the hardworking people of upstate New York," said Sen. Clinton, the conference's keynote speaker. "At a time when so many corporations are faced with difficult cutbacks, I applaud Lockheed Martin for working to expand its manufacturing capacity and stimulate job growth in the Southern Tier."

Marks also noted that the Apalachin facility in Tioga County was a good example of regional revitalization and economic growth. Lockheed Martin invested more than $1.6 million to retrofit part of the Hidden Valley Electronics building in Apalachin for current and future production needs at the company.

"Right now this facility is used to support a nationwide deployment of the Automated Package Processing System (APPS) program, which is strategically important to the U.S. Postal Service's modernization plan," Marks said.

Lockheed Martin used the conference as an outreach program by inviting 30 Business Careers Students from Binghamton High School to attend the program to learn more about business, procurement and supply chain management operations.

Lockheed Martin Systems Integration - Owego, which hosted the event, is comprised of operations that make advanced aerospace and helicopter avionics and mission systems, postal and material handling automation systems, airport baggage handling integration, and a helicopter center of excellence for the US101 aircraft.

Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin employs about 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Corporation