A Milan, Italy-based international staffing agency has opened its third American office in metro Atlanta to take advantage of Georgia’s aerospace industry and to diversify the company’s American portfolio.

Quanta Inc., the American branch of the Quanta Group, has entered talks about staffing a joint venture project in Smyrna involving Italy-based Alenia North America, which is manufacturing a new line of military aircraft called the C-27J, Cindy DiRosa, Quanta Inc.’s CEO, told GlobalAtlanta.

The Quanta Group has a flourishing relationship in Italy with Alenia Aeronautica, the aeronautics branch of Italian high-tech company Finmeccanica Inc., and Quanta Inc. is testing the waters to see if a partnership with Alenia’s American branch will produce a similar synergy, Ms. DiRosa said.

The Alenia project, which is Quanta Inc.’s impetus for opening the Marietta office, is in line with Quanta Inc.’s traditional involvement with fields that involve a high-level of technical engineering expertise. With U.S. headquarters located near Detroit, the company has become the preferred staffer for robotics giant Fanuc Robotics America Inc. and other companies that need engineering and design staff.

But the company plans to eventually diversify into other sectors, and Atlanta seemed like a good place to do so without abandoning a profitable aerospace niche, anchored by the relationship with Alenia.

“That cornerstone account (Alenia) was the primary reason for drawing us to that market, but certainly with or without (it) we’d want to expand in Atlanta because of the fact that it’s simply a growing market,” Ms. DiRosa said.

Atlanta was a “logical choice” because Georgia is home to aviation companies like Savannah-based Gulfstream Aerospace Inc. and an operations office of Lockheed-Martin Corp., according to Teressa Tyler, account manager Quanta Inc.’s Marietta office.

Quanta’s decision to locate in Georgia comes at a productive time for aviation in the state.

Georgia is celebrating its 100th year of powered flight and is hosting the National Business Aviation Assocation’s 60th annual national convention, which is expected to draw 30,000 visitors to Atlanta.

In addition, Cessna Aircraft Co. recently announced that it expects to invest up to $24 million and add up to 150 new jobs by expanding its Columbus operations. And in July, Precision Components International, an airplane parts engineering and manufacturing company also in Columbus, said it would dedicate $53 million to a phased development that would eventually create 100 new jobs.

“You couldn’t get any better than this location,” said Ms. Tyler, who previously worked in the customer service department at Northwest Airlines Inc. “Lockheed-Martin is right down the street from us and Dobbins Air Force Base…We actually see the planes flying over us that we staff for.”

Ms. DiRosa said that other industries Quanta Inc. pursues will be determined by the Atlanta market, but that the company will remain “niche-focused” in its future endeavors.

“We feel that’s the best way to do business,” she said.

Ms. Tyler, whose grandmother lives in Covington, said she was enjoying getting acclimated to the Atlanta area and that her office is doing all it can to boost Quanta’s name recognition in the region.

She has been personally involved with the Global Commerce Department at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, where she said she has been able to network effectively and learn a great deal about Atlanta’s global economy.

“Every time I go to the meetings I learn about another company setting up operations here,” said Ms. Tyler, who said Quanta wants focus on bringing the “humanistic factor to staffing,” rather than just “getting a body into that position.”

The Quanta Group has more than 40 offices in Italy as well as offices in Poland, Romania and Switzerland. Its Italian headquarters is moving from downtown Milan to a larger campus on the outskirts of the city. In America, the company’s Ohio office is closing, leaving the Michigan and Atlanta offices as the only U.S. locations.
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Quanta Inc. – Teressa Tyler 678.921.2670