The total expansion will be facilitated in part by a $4.5 million Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, as well as undisclosed tax incentives from the city of Brighton.
A global development and manufacturing giant announced plans to invest $122 million and bring 545 new jobs to the state of Michigan, starting with an expansion of its facilities in Brighton.
Eberspaecher, a company that develops, produces, and markets automotive and commercial vehicle exhaust after-treatment systems, said that it will nearly triple the size of its existing 110,000-square-foot plant in Brighton and add a minimum of 100 jobs at the facility in order to “support the manufacture of exhaust systems and catalytic converters for commercial vehicles in the short term.”
The company will begin its five-year expansion plan in late-2014 and it’s expected to continue into 2019.
The company is looking to purchase land in Michigan to expand its facilities and its manufacturing footprint.
The total expansion will be facilitated in part by a $4.5 million Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, as well as undisclosed tax incentives from the city of Brighton.
“We are pleased to announce that now is the right time for us to make this significant commitment to Michigan. We see the value in growing our presence here and now more than ever have the capacity to do so,” Doug Swick, president of Eberspaecher Exhaust Technologies of the Americas, said in a written statement.
“We are truly excited to move forward with this strategic investment. These actions result from our demonstrated strength in the domestic market coupled with the skill base we currently experience in the Michigan community for the future.”
Ann Arbor SPARK is also helping facilitate Eberspaecher’s expansion.
“Eberspaecher’s continued growth in Brighton shows that this region can meet the needs of a global manufacturing business,” said Paul Krutko, president and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK.
“The company’s aggressive hiring plans highlight a key asset that this region offers: Talent. Not only do we have more skilled and engineering talent than anywhere in the world, we have a diverse talent pool that can fill a range of positions, from programming to sales to management.”
The search for additional manufacturing capabilities in Michigan is underway and further expansion is anticipated.
Scott Trujillo, the vice president of finance for Eberspaecher Exhaust Technologies of the Americas, said that the incentives from the state played a key role in expanding locally. He said the grant was “instrumental in solidifying our critical decision to invest here.”
Eberspaecher built its first Michigan facility in 2000. Internationally, the company has about 7,300 employees with more nearly $3.9 billion (USD) in sales in 2012.