Auto Supplier Growing in Huntington
The company will build next to its current Huntington plant.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA Michigan-based automotive manufacturing supplier is planning to expand in Huntington. Continental Structural Plastics Inc. intends to invest $33.5 million into a new facility next to its current Huntington County operations and add up to 80 workers by 2020.
The company is planning a new 130,000 square-foot plant next to its current 210,000 square-foot facility. CSP employs more than 320 in Huntington and also has a presence just north in Grabill, where 30 Hoosier work.
Hiring for production, engineering and administrative positions is expected to begin later this year and are slated to pay higher than the county average. The company is a Tier 1 supplier, manufacturing lightweight composite materials that are formed into body panels and structural components for the automotive, heavy truck, HVAC and construction industries.
The announcement comes at an important time for Huntington, as another large employer in the area, United Technologies Electronic Controls Inc., announced plans in February to move manufacturing operations to Mexico. The Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) subsidiary says it will maintain an office in Huntington. Some 700 workers are expected to lose their jobs in the city in the coming years, along with around 1,400 at another subsidiary of UTC, Carrier Corp. in Indianapolis.
CSP Huntington Operations Manager Jerry Reid says "the Huntington area continues to be a very business-friendly place, making the decision to further invest here an easy one for us. We have access to a talented and hard-working employment base, and continue to receive significant support from the local, county and state economic development offices that enables us to grow our business and contribute to the Huntington-area economy."
The company has been offered up to $600,000 from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. in conditional tax credits.
Mayor Brooks Fetters says "I’m proud of the team at CSP and the project would not have been possible without the hard work of the Huntington County Economic Development Corporation, the county commissioners, the city council and the state. This was truly a team effort."