Fort Wayne Metals Announces Major Expansion
(photo courtesy Fort Wayne Metals)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFort Wayne Metals says it will invest more than $50 million into its Allen County operations and add more than 330 new jobs by 2021. The precision wire, strand and cable manufacturer says growing demand led to the expansion, which includes an addition to its corporate office and a new building. Fort Wayne Metals currently has more than 800 full-time employees at facilities in Fort Wayne and Columbia City.
Chief Financial Officer Troy Linder says the company is "experiencing a global increase in demand." The expansion will increase Fort Wayne Metals’ production capacity for precision wire and components for the medical device industry. Construction is set to begin in 2017.
Fort Wayne Metals says the new jobs will be in areas including production and maintenance, business systems, regulatory compliance, statistical process control, thermal processing and environmental safety. Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry says the expansion "is another example of the positive momentum we’re seeing in Fort Wayne." In addition to its North American facilities, the company has operations in Asia, Central America and Europe.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has offered Fort Wayne Metals more than $3.5 million in conditional tax credits and training grants based on the job creation plans. The city of Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana Works are also considering incentives.
The state says Fort Wayne Metals is one of nearly 1,700 life sciences firms operating in Indiana, employing more than 56,000 Hoosiers. BioCrossroads, Indiana’s life sciences initiative, says Indiana exports $9.6 billion in life sciences products annually, ranking second in the United States.