HUNTINGTON – An automotive parts company plans to invest at least $9.1 million at a Huntington manufacturing facility and create 350 jobs by 2012, officials told The Journal Gazette.
Continental Structural Plastics is closing its northwest Ohio plant and shifting work to northeast Indiana. Gov. Mitch Daniels, Huntington Mayor Steve Updike and other dignitaries plan to make the announcement at 1:30 p.m. today during a news conference at the former Meridian Automotive Systems Inc. plant at 1890 Riverfork Drive.
“Back-filling” the 220,000-square-foot plant with a similar operation fills a major void that Allen Park, Mich.-based Meridian caused when it exited about two years ago, leaving 186 people jobless, said Mark Wickersham, executive director of the Huntington County United Economic Development Corp.
“The investment and job creation with the CSP project represents a fantastic opportunity for Huntington,” he said, adding the jobs will pay $15.14 an hour.
“We knew we were competing with Ohio and the governor there. We just put our best foot forward.”
On Tuesday, news outlets in Toledo were reporting that Continental Structural would shut down its North Baltimore, Ohio, manufacturing plant in coming months despite efforts from state and local leaders there to save 214 jobs at the company.
Besides doing work for the automotive industry, the business makes composite parts and components for heavy trucks, construction, heating and cooling, solar power, water management and building materials.
News reports said Continental Structural is leaving because an Environmental Protection Agency rule would require it to use a machine that costs $500,000 annually to operate. Continental Structural leaders say the equipment isn’t needed.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland implored the EPA to find a compromise, but apparently time has run out. A spokeswoman for the governor said in an e-mail that her boss “will attempt to contact the CEO directly, and he hopes that the company’s leaders will engage in a dialogue about how the state might help resolve these Ohio jobs.”
Executives at Continental Structural were unavailable for comment Tuesday.
‘Good news for us’
Leaders in Huntington, meanwhile, are giddy.
“This is good news for us, and it is putting us where we want to be,” Mayor Updike said.
“This is what we’ve been looking to do because we’ve lost so many manufacturing jobs during the past few years, so we aggressively went after these types of companies, and it’s paying off for us.”
The numbers back him up. Unemployment in Huntington County was 11 percent in June, down from 14.2 percent in June 2009. However, the jobless rate was 10.1 percent statewide and 9.5 percent nationally.
Crews for Continental Structural have been readying the Huntington site over the past few weeks and expect to begin serving the automotive sector next month.
“They’re planning for the first phase to be up in September and the second phase to be running by the end of the year,” Wickersham said.
