Caterpillar Inc. said it chose a location near Athens, Georgia, for a new $ 200 million in the factory which employs about 1,400 people and make equipment currently produced in Sagami, Japan. The selection came after the Peoria, Ill., maker of heavy equipment reviewed proposals “more than 100 communities in three dozen countries plus Canada and Mexico,” a spokesman said Friday. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal hailed the plant as a “game changer” for the Athens area in northeast Georgia. American politicians are eager to trumpet their job creating references in this election year. Manufacturing jobs tend to be modestly better than service jobs and are seen as lifeboats for a sinking middle class to pay.
Caterpillar will incentives totaling more than $ 75 million from Georgia and two of his provinces, Athens-Clarke and Oconee received, state and local officials said. The plant will be built on a 265-hectare land border these two provinces. The provinces agreed to the land and property tax relief and new roads, sewers and water lines to offer. The state is providing tax credits and grants to train workers to help, among other things.
Caterpillar said it was not the wage level for the Athens plant specific, but recently the company is offering employees a train locomotive plant in Muncie, Indiana, starting salary of between $ 12 and $ 18.50 per hour, plus medical and dental benefits and a retirement savings plan.
The new one-million square-foot plant, due to start production in autumn 2013, will generally small bulldozers and excavators used in construction and demolition projects in small spaces. Approximately 40% of production will be exported, the Caterpillar spokesman. Sagami the plant, which at this time, this line of machines, it will be converted into a plant part, said Caterpillar.
Caterpillar is already building a plant to make larger excavators in Victoria, Texas. The company will use the plant to the North American market to operate instead of importing the machines from Japan, strengthening its Japanese production of large excavators focused on markets in China and the rest of Asia.
Athens also won the plant, because it is near ports in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, SC, and has “a good pool of potential employees with manufacturing experience,” Caterpillar said. Also called “a positive and proactive business climate.”
In addition to employees hired for the plant, Caterpillar estimated that the project will be another 2,800 jobs at suppliers and other companies providing support services to create.
Other products in the Athens area include pharmaceutical products, coolers, fruit pies and fish lures. The University of Georgia is one of the largest employers in the region.
The land given to Caterpillar, a wooded area that is now used for hunting, is zoned for industrial use in the early 1980s, but not for the manufacturer to date to withdraw.
source:onlinewsj
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