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Wisconsin manufacturer bringing new plant, jobs to Hazel Park instead of Romulus

Signature Asssociates was proud to be a part of this transaction.

Wisconsin-based Mayville Engineering Co. has changed the location of a previously announced plant to Hazel Park, where it plans to invest up to $45 million and hire 390 employees.

The contract manufacturer previously said it would invest $51.5 million to set up in a former A123 plant spanning 300,000 square feet in Romulus. A company spokesman told Crain’s that space ended up being too small.

The new location is a 10-year lease on a 450,000-square-foot manufacturing and warehouse space at the Tri-County Commerce Center, which is sprawled out over the former Hazel Park Raceway. Buildout is expected to be complete by the end of the year, with production beginning in early 2022.

“We are pleased to have finalized our plans for a new facility that significantly expands our manufacturing capacity in Michigan,” Bob Kamphuis, chairman, president and CEO, said in a news release. “This facility will include state of the art technology and equipment, which will allow us to efficiently produce the highest quality components for our new customer starting early next year.”

The company declined to name its customer. In April, it announced a long-term agreement with a “leading U.S. based fitness company” and an investment of up to $45 million to support production of equipment for the client, expected to be a top 10 customer by 2022.

The Hazel Park plant is expected to house welding, tube bending, laser cutting, painting and electrocoating operations. Mayville provides a range of prototyping and tooling, fabrication, coating, assembly and aftermarket components for commercial vehicles, construction, powersports, agriculture and military customers.

The Hazel Park project is supported by a $2.5 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which said it lured the company away from alternative sites in Wisconsin and Indiana. The 390 jobs are expected to be filled in the next year, the company said. The average weekly wage is $825 plus benefits, according to an April memo from the MEDC.

“After reviewing many alternative sites and states, we selected Hazel Park … due to the availability of a highly skilled manufacturing workforce in the area to support existing demand and potential further market growth opportunities,” Mayville COO Rand Stille said in the release.

Mayville employs around 400 people at five plants in Michigan totaling 300,000 square feet — in Byron Center, Vanderbilt and Wayland.

In the first quarter of 2021, the employee-owned company generated $2.5 million of net income on $112.6 million in sales compared to $50,000 of net income on $108.6 million in sales the same time a year ago. It ended 2020 with $357.6 million in revenue and a $7.1 million net income loss, according to past earnings reports.

Posted By: Crain’s Detroit Business on June 11, 2021.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

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