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Local government officials, business leaders and others celebrated the opening of a new business in Albert Lea on Wednesday that hopes to make the city a center for excellence for electric vehicle charging in the coming years.

Design Ready Controls, which is leasing the 60,000-square-foot Albert Lea Economic Development Agency building at the corner of Margaretha Avenue and 14th Street, opened for production on Monday, said Troy Schmidtke, company owner and chairman of the board. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn Park with other locations in Oklahoma and Virginia.

“Albert Lea’s on great footing right now, and we’re excited to be a part of it,” Schmidtke said.

Thus far, the company had received over 200 applications and made 40 job offers for its Albert Lea location, with 30 people hired, he said.

He thanked numerous individuals and organizations who made the opening possible, including the city of Albert Lea, Albert Lea Economic Development Agency, Freeborn County, the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce and Riverland Community College, which has started a mechatronics manufacturing program.

He hoped employees could utilize the program to advance their careers in an Earn and Learn program, where the company would pay for the tuition of the employee. Riverland also recently received a grant to support the Educating Autonomous Vehicle Technicians project being launched by the college’s Automotive Service Technology Program.

“The entire community has been super supportive of us,” he said.

Schmidtke said Design Ready Controls, which manufactures electrical control panels and wire harnesses, will build mobile commercial chargers at the Albert Lea facility for a company called Heliox, which is headquartered in the Netherlands with a North American headquarters in Atlanta.

He said the connection between Design Ready Controls and Heliox started about four years ago. Heliox is expecting to quadruple its growth with the company in the next year.

He noted the biggest bottleneck at this point is training people fast enough.

Schmidtke said Heliox also put money toward the Albert Lea building.

Schmidtke, who grew up in Albert Lea and was raised in the community until he was 18, also thanked three other Albert Leans — Al Arends, Henry Savelkoul and Manny Stiles — who he described as “Albert Lea’s biggest fans” and who diligently promote the community. He said they also taught him about giving back.

“Albert Lea owes a great debt to Manny, Al and Henry for this plant being a reality,” he said.

Schmidtke said they picked Albert Lea for the new plant for many reasons, including its location on two interstates, its strong business community, the program at Riverland Community College and the vision of community leaders. He noted the city and ALEDA stepped up to assist with the project.

He also credited the strong work ethic in the city and that Albert Lea is a strong faith-based community with high volunteerism.

“The support has been overwhelming,” he said.

Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, staff led groups on tours throughout the building.

Community members were also invited to take part in tours throughout the remainder of the day.