PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, MI — Manufacturing jobs are on their way to Plymouth Township. Oerlikon-Metco is bringing 70 jobs and investing $52 million into the construction of a 79,000-square-foot facility on Concept Drive.
The Swiss-based company, which is involved in a variety of industries, will phase the jobs in over two years. The Plymouth Township facility will make metal powder for 3-D printers and plans to start production next March. Oerlikon-Metco also has a facility in Troy.
Both Plymouth Township and the state of Michigan provided incentives to help make the move possible. The township Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve a 12-year, 50-percent tax abatement, according to a Plymouth Observer report.
The tax break amounts to $1.5 million for taxing jurisdictions such as schools, the library and the township, whose portion is $147,000, the newspaper reported. Oerlikon-Metco also received a state economic development grant totaling $600,000.
The new facility will be built on a 10.3-acre site in the Metro Plymouth Business Park, which sits east of Haggerty Road and north of Plymouth Road. Assessor Doug Shaw said Plymouth Township has seen a 24-percent increase in industrial property values in the past year.
“Plymouth Township has had a lot of market activity in the industrial parks to support that change,” Shaw told the Observer.
According to the company’s website, Oerlikon-Metco’s parent company, Oerlikon, is a leading global technology group, with a clear strategy to become a global powerhouse in surface solutions, advanced materials and materials processing. A Swiss company with over 100 years of tradition, Oerlikon employes more than 13, 500 employees worldwide at more than 180 locations in 37 countries.
The company had 2.3 billion in sales in 2016. Besides metal powder for 3-D printing, Oerlikon is also involved in making coating equipment, coating services and the manufacturing of turbine components, among others.
