JAMA Member NEX Solutions Chosen as a 2010 MI Top 50 Company to Watch NEX Solutions has been recognized as one of the 2010 “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch,” an award sponsored by the Edward Lowe Foundation...
Tenneco expansion to add jobsBy Chris Gautz | Jackson Citizen Patriot
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tenneco plans to invest $3.5 million into its Grass Lake engineering...
ADCO Products will expand operations in Jackson CountyBy Chris Gautz/J. Scott Park
Jackson Citizen Patriot
March 17, 2010
In the next five years, more than 200 jobs will come to...
JAMA 73rd Annual Dinner Reportby Chris Gautz | Jackson Citizen Patriot
January 19, 2010
Contrary to popular belief, the automotive industry has not been in a recession...
See All News & Events Articles
Subscribe to the News Feed
Tenneco expansion to add jobs
By Chris Gautz | Jackson Citizen Patriot
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tenneco plans to invest $3.5 million into its Grass Lake engineering facility after receiving a Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credit Tuesday morning. The Illinois-based company, which manufacturers automotive emission and ride control products around the world, will invest a total of $15.6 million by the end of 2011 in Michigan as it expands to make components for gas and diesel pickups, SUVs and crossover vehicles at four of its plants.
The tax credit is worth $1.8 million over seven years, and the state says it will lead to the creation of up to 185 jobs at its sites in Litchfield, Marshall, Monroe and Grass Lake. In order to receive the full amount of the credit, Tenneco has to create the 185 jobs by next year and maintain them through 2017. The majority of the jobs will go to the Litchfield and Marshall plants, where the company does the manufacturing of its emission control products, Tenneco Spokesman Jim Spangler said.
“We will start hiring immediately,” he said.
The sites in Monroe and Grass Lake are engineering facilities. Spangler said he did not know how many of the jobs will come to Grass Lake. Its secluded 208-acre campus in Grass Lake has about 300 employees at its 140,000-square-foot facility, which features high-tech acoustics testing and validation labs and an outdoor test track.
Spangler said the investment in the Grass Lake facility will be used to purchase additional equipment to support technology development and the industrialization of the new diesel emission products. Spangler said they are proud of the work done in Grass Lake and will continue to invest in the facility.
“It’s critically to our long-term success,” he said.
Scott Fleming, president and CEO of The Enterprise Group, the county’s economic-development agency, said this is good news for the area, and it will likely lead to indirect jobs.
“I’m always glad to celebrate these little victories here and there,” he said.
According to the Enterprise Group, Grass Lake Township anticipates giving up $38,220 in taxes per year to support the project.
Township Supervisor Jim Stormont said Tenneco has to file an application with the township for the tax abatement, and the board will look to determine whether it will qualify for the full 12-year, 50 percent abatement. The issue would likely come up at their next regular board meeting on May 11.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation said in a statement that the state tax credit was used to encourage Tenneco to bring the jobs to Michigan rather than to its facilities in either Nebraska or Tennessee.