ThyssenKrupp expands

STAFF REPORT

DANVILLE January 02, 2009 11:13 pm

— Just a bit more than a year ago, Danville officials heard the good news from ThyssenKrupp representatives that the company would expand one of its local production lines.
Then in April, ThyssenKrupp also announced it had picked Danville as the site for a combined machining line. The move retained more than 100 jobs and carried the promise of 200 new jobs along with an investment of almost $40 million.
The move was in conjunction with the company’s decision to close its plant in Fostoria, Ohio, by the end of 2009. More than 100 people received lay-off notices in Fostoria in mid-November when the nation’s economic downturn continued to worsen. The Fostoria plant employs more than 300 people.
The company, with facilities on Lynch Road, manufactures heavy-duty crankshafts for semi trucks and other large vehicles. The camshafts are used both in domestic manufacturing sites as well as those in other countries.
Since it purchased the former Wyman-Gordon Forge in 1991, ThyssenKrupp has spent an estimated $200 million to upgrade and expand its local production capabilities.
ThyssenKrupp and Systrand Presta Engine Systems, also with a plant in Danville, worked out a cooperative agreement to provide finished camshafts to manufacturers.
All of ThyssenKrupp’s heavy-duty forging and machining operations will be located in Danville by November of this year.
The company received more than $1 million from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity as well as job-training grants, tax credits and savings by locating in the Danville/Tilton/Vermilion County Enterprise Zone. Other assistance was provided by the City of Danville and Vermilion Advantage.
On the flip side of economic news, Danville’s Heatcraft — known locally for years as Bohn Aluminum — announced it would close its doors.
The last day for production at the Voorhees Street plant was earlier this week. The factory, which produced condensers and evaporators for commercial refrigeration units, had been in the city for 51 years.
At the time of the announcement, the factory employed about 350 people. At the close of production, about 100 lost their jobs. A few workers will remain to close the site.
Corporate officials made the decision to consolidate the Danville operation with a similar facility in Tifton, Ga.