Essex Company Lands Army Contract

The deal means Bell Power Systems can hire more employees.

The workload at Bell Power Systems in Essex will soon get a little bit heavier. 

The company just secured an $8 million Army contract to help rebuild 1,400 diesel engines per year for the next five years.

“It's nice to get a job like that. Steady business, keeps four or five folks employed full-time,” said Martin Bell, the company's president and owner.

“This means jobs. This means some folks over a period of time will have a volume of work that they can do,” U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) said.

The contract will also bring more jobs. Bell Power plans to hire local veterans to beef up staff to handle the additional work.

“Lot of guys understand how to build engines, so we've tried to populate our shop with talent coming out of the military,” said Bell.

Christopher Smith is one of those veterans.  

He's been working at Bell Power for more than a decade and said it's important to hire the men and women who have spent time serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“You just got to watch out for the people who are watching out for you,” said Smith.

The company will also see added benefits in the form of tax credits. 

Both the federal and state governments are offering thousands of dollars in incentives for companies like Bell Power that hire military veterans. 

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