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Benchmark Electronics, a global technology design and manufacturing company headquartered in Tempe, is taking full advantage of Arizona鈥檚 business-friendly environment.

The company moved its headquarters to the Phoenix area from Texas in 2017 to be closer to Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona State University and endless blue skies.

鈥淚 have to say, with some bias and selfishness, one of the reasons that I was attracted to Benchmark as a company is I like to see a聽 in the Valley,鈥� said Steve Beaver, vice president and general counsel at Benchmark Electronics. Beaver was born and raised in Phoenix and attended the University of Arizona in Tucson.

鈥淢y dad was a 38-year 鈥楳otorolan鈥� back when Motorola had a huge presence here, and I think this fit鈥檚 the governor鈥檚 narrative鈥� to bring high-tech companies and attract them to the Valley,鈥� Beaver said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 often hear about companies coming from Texas to Phoenix, so that鈥檚 quite an accomplishment in its own rite.鈥�

Benchmark has been going through a transition, moving away from electronics manufacturing services (EMS) to product design, technology and solutions on a聽, said Jan Janick, CTO and vice president of global engineering at Benchmark Electronics.

鈥淏enchmark鈥檚 whole success is about making our customers and our partners successful, so what I see in our future is a lot of extended capability on the building blocks of technology around our product and their engineering design services,鈥� Janick said.

Benchmark works with its global partners on all aspects of a product: from concept and design to manufacturing and aftermarket solutions. The company鈥檚 23 global manufacturing sites 鈥� out of 27 total locations worldwide 鈥� give it the capability to meet the needs of a variety of industries.

鈥淏enchmark primarily serves several markets: aerospace and defense, medical, next-generation telecommunications, test and instrumentation, and computing,鈥� Beaver said. 鈥淩ight now, our focus is more on the higher-value markets; we鈥檙e trying to migrate more toward the聽 and medical markets.鈥�

Benchmark鈥檚 executive team wants to 鈥渇orge deeper relationships鈥� with the Arizona community, including the universities, state government, and business organizations.

鈥淲e want to create jobs here in the Valley,鈥� Beaver said. 鈥淥ur ultimate goal is to create at least 500 jobs, if not more, in the next five years. And we do have some manufacturing sites here in the Valley, hopefully with some opportunity for expansion in those areas as well.鈥�

There are currently 109 employees at Benchmark鈥檚 new 60,000-square-foot corporate headquarters, located in a newly-constructed business park next to the Tempe Marketplace shopping center, and there is room in the building for 220 people. And that鈥檚 just a portion of the company鈥檚 13,000 employees worldwide.

鈥淏enchmark was founded in 1979 in a small town in Texas, and we originally started off really focused on medical products; in fact, we were a small subsidiary of a medical company,鈥� said Mike Buseman, executive vice president of global operations at Benchmark Electronics. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 happened over those 40 years is we鈥檝e now grown into a real global organization. We鈥檙e very focused on many other things beyond medical, but we鈥檝e always been clear about our mission around really highly-complex products. Today, we鈥檝e grown into an organization that has product design, that has advanced manufacturing and technical solutions across a wide range of industries.鈥�

In November 2018, the Arizona Technology Council and Arizona Commerce Authority named Benchmark Electronics the聽 at the聽.

Benchmark products fill too broad a range to pin down into one category, but its products for each industry are defined by their cutting-edge design and mobile capabilities.

Among its most recognizable products are computers and screens for U.S. Army soldiers, a mobile long-distance camera surveillance system that can be mounted on the back of U.S. Customs and Border Protection trucks, and a portable laser-light biometric scanner used to quickly and easily reveal arm veins in a medical environment.

The first floor of the new corporate headquarters includes a product design center as part of the Internet of Things (IOT), which includes any cloud-connected electronic devices. The center will 鈥渇ocus on sensor infrastructure, communications, wireless, battery life and general connection of our customers鈥� products to the cloud,鈥� Janick said.

The company has big plans for Arizona, and the new headquarters is just the start.

鈥淥ne of the key reasons we moved here was access to the skills 鈥� both the students and the professors 鈥� and expertise of ASU,鈥� Janick said. 鈥淎SU has been a very, very willing partner to work with industry.鈥�

The customer-base, industries and engineering teams that exist in the state make it a very fruitful place for Benchmark, especially when it comes to聽, Janick said.