BWI plant to employ 441 in Indiana

Mayor Chuck Fewell is excited that BeijingWest Industries Co is opening its first US manufacturing plant in his town of Greenfield, Indiana.

"We are 25 miles southeast of Indianapolis, and we have a safe and attractive community," he said about his town of 20,000 in a telephone interview on Tuesday. "We are glad BWI (BeijingWest Industries) will become a part of our community."

In April, BWI selected Greenfield for a plant that is expected to employ 441 and produce automotive suspension components like shock absorbers and struts, Gregory Dronen, global facilities director for BWI, wrote in an email. BWI will break ground on the plant in July and it is scheduled to begin production in 2019.

Dronen said the parts will be for the US market so Greenfield's location was a strong selling point. "We have an ideal location on I-270 (a major interstate highway) and we are in the Midwest plus Indiana is in the middle of the country," added Fewell.

In addition to the location, Dronen said Greenfield offered an available workforce, a local community college for recruiting and state and local incentives. The Indiana Economic Development Corp will offer BWI up to $4.5 million in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants and Greenfield is considering additional tax incentives.

Beijing-based BWI will invest $80 million to create the 276,500-square-foot manufacturing facility in Greenfield's Progress Park. With its growth, BWI expects to increase its production to 4 million parts per year to meet the continued demand from its customers, which include Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, General Motors, Honda and Porsche.

BWI serves more than 31 customers around the world and produces the MagneRide suspension system. BWI employs nearly 5,000 associates across more than 17 facilities globally, which includes operations in China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Poland, United Kingdom and the US.

Dronen said the company has four other US operations: an engineering and administration facility in Kettering, Ohio, that employs 180; a Moraine, Ohio, chassis test center with 110 employees; a tech center in Brighton, Michigan, with 120 employees and a winter test site in Gwinn, Michigan.

"BWI is excited to be working with the state of Indiana and Hancock County on this extremely important project," John Beres III, assistant president and global director of BWI, said in a statement in April. "We are appreciative of the support given to us at the state and local level. This plant will expand our North American footprint to support our US customer base."

BWI is a joint venture of Shougang Corp and Beijing Fangshan State-Owned Asset Management.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com