By Brent Ruffner
Mail | Twitter: @AzNewsmedia

U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema toured a Phoenix fabrication plant Tuesday afternoon to highlight the benefits of last year’s infrastructure bill, which is expected to help create union jobs.

Sinema toured the Digital Building Components plant with labor leaders from groups such as the Arizona Carpenters, the International Union of Operating Engineers and DPR Construction.

Digital Building Components and SurePods, at 624 N. 44th Ave. in Phoenix, makes pre-fabricated exterior wall panels and bathroom pods, that are installed in student housing, health care facilities and hotels.

The pods are essentially complete bathrooms that can be lifted into place rather than being installed by workers on mid- and high-rise buildings.

Sinema, a Democrat, attended a private roundtable with the Arizona labor leaders to tout the benefits of last year’s infrastructure bill and to hear concerns over issues such as supply chain obstacles.

In an interview, Sinema said manufacturing and carpentry workers are expected to benefit the most from elements of the infrastructure bill.
Advanced energy growth and infrastructure investments are intended to help create more high-quality union jobs in those respective fields.

“No one will benefit more than folks who do manufacturing, carpentry — the men and women who were here with us today,” Sinema said.

Sinema said labor representatives during the meeting expressed their support for the legislation.

“This represents the largest infusion of jobs in our nation’s history here in Arizona — so this is a big deal for us,” Sinema said. “But also some concern around implementation, which is normal. But now that the law is passed, I told the group that I was turning my focus into implementation. I want to make sure those dollars get to Arizona, and I want to make sure those dollars are used efficiently and effectively. I want to make sure those dollars are turned into jobs that actually make a difference in the lives of Arizonans.”

Sinema said implementation of the bill will help solve problems of inflation and supply chain issues.

The U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier, the sharpest year-over-year increase since 1981.

“I was talking to the folks here that run this company at (Digital Building Components) asking them about supply chain issues and how they are managing,” Sinema said. “During this time of inflation, materials costing more and harder to get. Our bipartisan infrastructure Law will help with (those) supply chain issues by repairing our ports of entry, modernizing both our land and water ports of entry, helping fix our roads and freeways, our trains, our transit. It will help us get those goods into factories just like this one.”

Toby Barlett, general manager of SurePods and Digital Building Components, said his companies have seen supply chain disruptions and have dealt with extended lead times for products.

“It takes longer to get everything in general,” Bartlett said. Some items get held up at ports of entry, he said.

Items such as tile, bathroom accessories and bathroom fixtures are sometimes hard to get, Barlett said.

“If we don’t get (items) when we need them, the entire train stops so to speak. It’s an enormous business risk.”

The company has sought to purchase more materials in the U.S. rather than relying on shipments coming from overseas.

“It gives us more stability to purchase materials here.”

Last month, Sinema met with a handful of Honeywell employees and talked about the importance of the U.S. Department of Defense and helping improve current supply chain issues. In particular, how it can impact the future of unmanned aerial vehicles and the work being done on them in the Valley.

Honeywell officials toured the Urban Air Mobility and Unmanned Aerial Systems group at its north Phoenix facility at 1860 W. Rose Garden Lane with Sinema and showed off capabilities of unmanned aerial systems — known better as drones — that can be flown to different cities from a command center. The drone — which can carry a 35-pound load — could deliver goods long distances rather than short flights, like drones typically do today.

The Associated Press reported U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm plans to visit Northeastern Arizona this week to highlight the benefits of the infrastructure bill.

Granholm is scheduled to visit the Hopi and Navajo reservations, the story said.

Brent Ruffner
Lead News Reporter | Daily Independent
@AzNewsmedia

BRuffner@iniusa.org

Journalism has fascinated Brent Ruffner since junior high school.

Since 2001, his stories have been published in newspapers from the Albuquerque to the Arizona and he has always had a knack for making sure his facts are right and his words are to the point. 

Growing up, Brent watched as sports reporters covered his beloved Phoenix Suns, a team he followed since Charles Barkley first arrived in Phoenix via trade in 1992. Sports reporting was a dream back then.

But after gaining some writing experience, Brent found a love for news instead of covering different types of sports. In 2008, he moved to New Mexico and covered crime, schools and city beats all while holding elected officials accountable. 

He covered stories that ranged from a DEA drug bust gone bad to an award-winning story on school lunches. 

In Arizona, Brent was a freelance writer who covered everything from the importance of citrus in the state to Esteban owning a store in downtown Prescott. 

Brent is a 2007 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.