Auto parts supplier plans for additional 530 jobs
1/29/2013TECUMSEH, Mich. — An automotive parts supplier with a facility in Tecumseh is reportedly planning a major expansion that would add hundreds of jobs to its Michigan workforce.
Documents from the state show that Van-Rob Tecumseh — formerly Lenawee Stamping Corp. — is planning a two-stage, $30.7 million project that the company says will ultimately add 530 jobs.
More than half of the jobs are marked for the plant in Tecumseh, with the remainder to be added at a yet-to-be determined location in Michigan.
State documents show the company intends to create 272 jobs in Tecumseh to build underbody parts destined for General Motors plants in Michigan and Indiana.
It wasn’t clear when hiring would begin. State documents show a 2013-2014 timeline for the Tecumseh expansion.
The Lenawee Stamping plant is owned by Van-Rob Inc. of Aurora, Ont.
Messages left at Van-Rob’s corporate office were not returned Monday, and no one could be reached at the Tecumseh plant.
The plant is represented by the United Auto Workers Local 3000.
A union representative there said he was aware of media reports, but the company hadn’t yet shared any expansion plans with the union.
He said the plant currently employs about 450 hourly employees.
Michigan awarded the company a $5.3 million grant through the Michigan Business Development Program.
In a news release announcing the grant, Michigan state Rep. Nancy Jenkins, a Republican from Clayton, said she was pleased to see Lenawee Stamping invest in the community and in the state.
“Our state has become a much better place to do business in the past two years, and companies like Lenawee Stamping investing here are proof of that,” she said.
“I congratulate everyone who has been working on this project and look forward to the business expansion and job creation that will come from it,” she said.
The city of Tecumseh separately approved a seven-year property tax abatement valued at $1.3 million.
Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at: tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.