A year after the announcement of a new auto-glass factory in Moraine, Fuyao Glass America Inc. says it will add another 750 jobs to the plant as it ramps up U.S. production. Fuyao had previously committed to bring 800 jobs to the former General Motors plant south of Dayton, which had been mostly abandoned since 2008. The addition of after-market automotive glass manufacturing in the planned factory brings the total expected jobs up to more than 1500.
Hiring has already started, with recruitment events around the Miami Valley for the first 430 jobs. Construction and capital improvements on the site are now expected to total around $360 million and are already underway.
Fuyao CEO Chairman Cao Dewang made the announcement Tuesday in Columbus alongside Governor John Kasich and JobsOhio President John Minor, as well as representatives from the Dayton Development Coalition.
Fuyao employees started working in the area in the late spring, and Cao says he looks forward to deepening the relationship with Dayton.
"The feedback we've heard from our group is Dayton, Ohio is a beautiful place, and people from Dayton, Ohio are even more beautiful," said Cao, speaking through a translator.
The project is being touted as a big win for Governor John Kasich's JobsOhio organization, a semi-private agency devoted to job creation. On Tuesday, JobsOhio signed an agreement for $4 million in grant money for workforce training and economic development towards the Fuyao plant. Along with a nearly $10 million tax credit over 15 years, and grants and loans from Montgomery County and the city of Moraine, the state and local tax incentives to attract this investment total more than $15 million.
This is Fuyao’s first manufacturing plant in the U.S., where its customers include GM, Chrysler and Honda.
"The U.S. every year is spending $70 or $80 billion to Fuyao to buy glass," Cao said. "So with this project we're moving our facilities to the U.S....but I know this is a challenge because many of my competitors in this industry are going through hard times."
Analysts say rising wages in China and wage stagnation in the U.S. have made manufacturing here in the U.S. increasingly appealing for Chinese companies.
Late last week, Fuyao also announced it will make a major gift of $7 million to the University of Dayton’s China Institute, which starts its first semester-long program outside Shanghai this month. Chairman Cao said Fuyao is also considering building a glass research and development facility in the U.S.
Lewis Wallace is WYSO's managing editor, substitute host and economics reporter. Follow him @lewispants.
