Oxford Technologies Corporation Selects Bay County For Its New Manufacturing Operations

PANAMA CITY, FL – The Bay Economic Development Alliance, an agent of the Bay County Commission(Bay EDA), announced today that Oxford Technologies Corporation will be establishing a manufacturing operation in Bay County, Florida.  Oxford Technologies, headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut, is a key contributor in the supply chain to Sikorsky Aircraft. They will be manufacturing the leading-edge abrasion strip for the Black Hawk rotor blade in this Bay County facility.

For this manufacturing operation in Bay County, Oxford Technologies Corporation will be leasing an existing manufacturing facility located in the original Bay County Industrial Park on Highway-231.   The company will make a capital investment of more than $7.5M and will create 40 new jobs in Bay County. 

According to Rebecca Stearns, CEO “We are thrilled to be opening our new manufacturing operation in Bay County, Florida.  To create a sustainable future for manufacturing in America, we must invest in creating high-skilled jobs and growing our skilled workforce for the future. We saw the investment Bay County has made in their Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) program at Haney Technical College; the engineering technology and manufacturing programs at Gulf Coast State College; and the engineering programs at Florida State University Panama City and knew we would have the skill sets needed to build a successful business”.  President of Oxford Technologies Corporation, Melissa Stearns states “We are also excited to partner with FSUPC by participating in the new InSpire initiative that is being developed at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP).  This aviation center of excellence will give us access to engineering expertise to help keep our products on the cutting edge of technology.”

Code named, “Project Amadeus”, this project was generated by the Bay Economic Development Alliance. 

Kyle Shoots, Chairman of the Bay Economic Development Alliance, stated, “It is a privilege to welcome Oxford Technologies Corporation to Bay County, Florida.  We are proud to partner with this fantastic company to bring advanced manufacturing jobs to our community and to set an example of success for other companies looking to invest here.  The addition of Oxford Technologies proves that we can compete and “win” to bring good jobs to the people who live in our community.  The presence of Oxford Technologies is a great addition to our growing aviation target market.” 

The Bay County Commission has been very involved with the progression of this project. Bay County Commissioner Doug Moore stated, “This project will be very impactful for our community by bringing high-tech manufacturing jobs to one of our areas of focused growth within the County. The project will be located in our original business park near the Port Panama City-owned Intermodal Distribution Center. Oxford Technologies Corporation is exactly the kind of company we want to locate in our county.  We are looking forward to working with their team to help support their business success in Bay County.” 

As we welcome Oxford Technologies Corporation into Bay County, CareerSource Gulf Coast is actively recruiting talent to join this organization. Anyone interested in pursuing a career with Oxford Technologies is encouraged to contact CareerSource at csjobs@careersourcegc.com. More information about all available positions can be found on their website at www.careersourcegc.com.

Oxford Technologies Corporation was established in 2024 as a Woman Owned Small Business, with the intent to manufacture and sell the leading edge abrasion strip for the UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter. Due to the success of our other business, Oxford Industries located in Shelton, CT we were in the fortunate position to make the move into manufacturing and start Oxford Technologies Corporation, located in Panama City, FL. Oxford Industries was established in 1975 as a Sales and Marketing Rep Firm in the Aerospace and Defense Industry. Jake Stearns became the owner of Oxford Industries in 2019 bringing his brother Brad on as partner in 2022.  They have continued to represent manufacturing companies all over the country for many different commodities supporting Aerospace and Defense OEM’s including Sikorsky Aircraft, LMCO, Pratt and Whitney and many others. In addition to supporting Sikorsky with the manufacturing of the leading edge abrasion strip we plan on expanding into direct government supply aimed at helping support the local Naval and Airforce bases in the Bay County area as well as others around the world. 

The Bay County Economic Development Alliance (Bay EDA) is Bay County’s economic development entity. Publicly and privately funded, Bay EDA serves Bay County in the mission of supporting the existing businesses in Bay County and the recruitment of new businesses to Bay County. Bay EDA supports the existing pillars of the economy and is dedicated to growing and diversifying the Bay County economy.