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Power Sonix makes New Mexico its new home

Power Sonix Press Release | August 19, 2019

Estimated reading time 2 minutes, 37 seconds.

When military organizations and first responders across the globe need to be heard from airborne, land-based, or marine vehicles, they rely on high-powered public address systems. One of the global leaders in manufacturing these state-of-the-art systems now calls Albuquerque, New Mexico, home. Power Sonix, Inc., recently moved from its longtime home in West Virginia to design, engineer and assemble speaker systems in Albuquerque.

Power Sonix has produced high-powered speaker systems, as well as multi-channel audio controllers, since 1997.

New Mexico checks many boxes for Power Sonix, including talent familiar with the requirements of aerospace engineering, a favorable quality of life, and a location that is conducive to exporting. The company will join Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Virgin Galactic, and others in the state’s thriving aerospace cluster. Locals are also familiar with Power Sonix systems; one of the company’s longtime customers, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, uses the company’s system on its helicopter.

Shawn Mitschelen, president of Power Sonix, said, “I’ve built successful companies here before in this market and the same model will apply here.”

Mitschelen grew Trakka Systems here, which builds cameras and searchlights for helicopters.

“A lot of our customers and end users are police and sheriff departments, fire departments, some military and we’re probably, sales wise, 50-50 domestic vs. international export,” Mitschelen said. “We’re working to get our AS9100 certificate. It’s a certification that says you’re a supplier that can do it the same all the time. We did not have that at our West Virginia facility. Large helicopter companies require that. We know that is key.”

“We were the Small Business Administration’s West Virginia Exporter of the Year on two separate occasions. We hope to bring that to New Mexico,” Mitschelen said. Power Sonix exports its P.A. systems to Australia, Israel, India and other countries.

“Companies like Power Sonix are discovering that New Mexico is a tremendous location for high-tech manufacturing,” said Tim Nitti, president & CEO of the New Mexico Partnership. “The presence of leading manufacturers from a wide range of different industries has resulted in a deep supply of top quality experienced talent, and our world-class educational institutions are focused on training more people to ensure that this expertise remains easily available. A robust transportation infrastructure helps optimize supply-chain logistics and access to customers globally. In addition, the State continues to support policies highly favorable to manufacturers.”

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