Company that fixes your smartphone is aiming to hire more than 200 soon in Dallas area

14 June 2019 by Brian Womack
This article was originally featured in the Dallas Business Journal

Company that fixes your smartphone is aiming to hire more than 200 soon in Dallas area The next time your iPhone or Samsung gets a cracked screen, it could be sent off to a growing site in Lewisville.

Assurant Inc., a firm that provides risk-management services, is ramping up hiring at the Dallas-area site that specializes in handling mobile phones, according to Jeremy Purvis, general manager, Manufacturing Operations. Assurant (NYSE: AIZ) works with companies such as T-Mobile to sell consumers protection packages in case a new device gets damaged.

The company's Lewisville site, which spans close to 140,000 square feet, has about 350 employees and Is looking to get to about 600 by the end of July, he said.

Assurant, which is based in New York, is investing in North Texas, where the mobile industry has a large presence with big carriers, equipment providers and others, Purvis said. “Dallas is a great hub for our industry,” Purvis said. “You’ve got a great concentration of capabilities and partners here. You’ve got a little bit of a network effect that’s growing this marketplace. The Dallas-Fort Worth market has been key for us.”

Assurant took over the Lewisville facility when it acquired Broadtech LLC about five years ago when it had around 150 workers. The company has expanded the overall employee base there, even as it unveiled staff reductions about a year and a half ago in a note to the Texas Workforce Commission.

The location handles all kinds of smartphones – with problems such as those cracked screens or getting dunked in water – along with connected home products. The Lewisville facility also processes trade-ins for devices that need to be tested, data-wiped and cleaned before they’re ready for the secondary market.

In an investor presentation this year, Assurant touted mobile as one of its key businesses. It recently had a multi-year renewal with T-Mobile – and also highlighted its relationship with Apple.

The ramp-up in staff in Lewisville will include a lot of folks who handle “shop-floor activities,” he said. There will be about 30 for professional staff, such as the planning and procurement teams, as well.

“We’ve had a really great reception in this market in recruiting,” he said. “We have been able to find a great workforce on very short notice."