(December 8, 2011)
North Carolina Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco, left, presents American Roller Bearing President Ben Succop, right, with a plaque Thursday afternoon in the City of Morganton council chamber. Crisco announced A.R.B.'s plan to expand and create 231 jobs in Burke and Alexander counties with the help of a Job Development Investment Grant. Succop said A.R.B., who already has a facility in Morganton, will renovate the old Rexnord building on Chain Drive for additional manufacturing production.
MORGANTON --
American Roller Bearing will expand in Burke and Alexander counties creating 231 jobs over the next five years, announced North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Keith Crisco on behalf of Gov. Bev Perdue.
The total payroll of the new jobs is estimated to be between $8 million and $8.9 million. The overall annual wages will exceed Burke and Alexander counties’ annual average wages of $30,784 and $26,728, respectively.
The family-owned company will also invest $3 million to $5 million per year over the next five years in land, buildings, machinery and equipment, Crisco said.
A.R.B. President Ben Succop also announced the company purchased the old Rexnord building on Chain Drive. The company, headquartered in Hickory, already operates a facility in Morganton at 307 Burke Drive.
“We are planning on renovating (the old Rexnord building) and making the facility a state of the art roller bearing manufacturing plant,” Succop said.
Morganton Mayor Mel Cohen said, “American Roller Bearing and Morganton have worked together, grown together and prospered together since 1980.
“This company has set the standard for corporate citizenship in this town, this region and this state. And, with this latest commitment to our area, they further cement their relationship with Morganton and Burke County.”
Burke County Board of Commissioners Vice-Chair Bruce Hawkins said, “To have a local company who is a committed partner in many ways to our community makes this day even more special.”
The state Economic Investment Committee awarded A.R.B. a Job Development Investment Grant to facilitate the expansion.
“Without this grant we would not be able to expand and add 231 jobs to our company’s workforce,” Succop said.
A.R.B., under the terms of the JDIG, will be able to receive a grant equal to 65-percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs for each of the nine years in which the company meets annual performance targets.
If the company meets those targets and sustains them for nine years, the grant could yield as much as $2.031 million in maximum benefits.
JDIGs are only awarded to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaking in the state without a grant.
“It’s good news that we’re expanding our job force, and obviously this company has done a lot of good work, and it has a relationship with Burke County,” said N.C. Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke. “So we’re just happy the JDIG grant was approved and it came to Burke County.”
The company chose to expand within the state because of the “people of North Carolina, the dedicated skilled workers and their strong family values,” said Succop.
The reasoning echoes his father’s decision to expand to N.C. in 1979, Succop said. His father had looked at specific locations in nine states and chose North Carolina, particularly Burke County, because the people reminded him of home.
“The number one reason businesses thrive in North Carolina is our workforce, our people,” Crisco said. “No question it’s number one. The training they get, the work ethic they have and their heritage in manufacturing.”
A.R.B. celebrated its first centennial this year. The company currently employs 340 people across the state.
Its first manufacturing plant opened in the 1920s in Pittsburgh, Pa. All manufacturing operations moved to N.C. in the early 1980s, with the corporate office moving to Hickory in 2007.
A.R.B. manufactures anti-friction bearings for industrial equipment used in electrical power generation, mining and rock crushing, primary metal making and rolling mills, oil fields, construction, railroads, gear drives, corrugated box and papermaking and wind energy.
The N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges, N.C. Department of Revenue, City of Morganton, Burke County, Burke Development Inc. and N.C. Rural Center partnered together on the announcement.
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