Manufacturer Investing in Steuben County
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA new manufacturing subsidiary of Allen County-based R3 Composites Corp. is planning to invest more than $17 million into reviving a Fremont plant that has been vacant for a decade. Carver Non-Woven Technologies says it will begin fiber component production in the middle of next year and could create more than 60 jobs by 2018.
The company is locating in the former Amcast Automotive facility. It produces components for automotive, recreational vehicle and household industries using non-woven, fabric-like materials.
Carver’s parent company, R3 Composites, launched plans in 2011 for a manufacturing facility in Grabill. The company says the new jobs planned in Fremont will pay more than $7 per hour higher than average in Steuben County.
R3 Composites Chief Financial Officer Kirk Klein says "the technology Carver Non-Woven will introduce to the non-woven market will be cutting edge in its ability to create low variance sheet weight (density), highly homogeneous resonated blends and multiple fiber/glass matrixes with superior dimensional stability and mechanical properties."
The company could receive up to more than $500,000 in conditional incentives as part of a package put together by the Indiana Economic Development Corp. The town and county could also consider kicking-in incentives of their own.