One North Carolina Fund Grant and Local Incentives Help PPG Industries Invest $20.5 Million In Shelby
RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley announced today that PPG Industries FiberGlass Products Inc., a leading manufacturer of fiberglass reinforcements, plans to expand its facility in Shelby, investing $20.5 million and adding
120 jobs during the next three years. The expansion was made possible in part by a $300,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund, and incentives from Cleveland County, the City of Shelby, and Gardner Webb University. Customized Training for the new employees created from this expansion will be provided by Cleveland Community College.
PPG Industries FiberGlass Products is a wholly owned subsidiary of PPG Industries, a worldwide company based in Pennsylvania. Parent company PPG operates 75 production facilities worldwide, including two fiberglass production facilities in Shelby and Lexington, and an industrial paint facility in Greensboro. Together, the N.C. operations employ 1,172
workers. In addition, the Shelby plant houses PPG’s global fiberglass research and development laboratories.
Local Plant Manager of PPG, Tim Mathis, said “The PPG Shelby Team has worked hard over the last few years to position ourselves for this growth opportunity. We are very appreciative of the State of North Carolina for providing the One NC Grant grant, and we also want to thank the City of Shelby , Cleveland County , and Gardner Webb for stepping up as well to
support us in this project. This is certainly a win-win situation for our team, our community, and our state. Although the exact date of our start-up is not know at this time, pre-work on the project has already commenced. The timing of the start-up will somewhat depend upon resolution of the current global credit crisis and the current slowdown in the economy.”
In Shelby, the company plans to increase production of fiberglass to meet growing demand for wind turbines, which have wind blades made of resin-coated fiberglass. Salaries for the 120 new positions will vary by job type, but the average annual wage will be $32,183 not including benefits. That is more than the Cleveland County
average annual wage of $31,200.
Shelby Mayor Ted Alexander commented, “PPG is an outstanding corporate citizen. Any expansion for this company will be a benefit to our economy, as well as to our overall community development. The City has worked very closely with PPG to ensure its viability, and through our unique
partnership, we worked out several years ago involving their annexation and purchase arrangements for natural gas, we were able to help save them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. I am also extremely thankful that the jobs created will help offset some of the recent job losses in Cleveland County.”
“PPG is pleased to continue our support of industries such as wind energy and energy infrastructure with this capacity expansion in the U.S.,” said Victoria M. Holt, PPG senior vice president, glass and fiberglass. “Long-term demand for PPG’s Hybon single-end rovings has grown globally by double digits, and we expect this growth to continue in light of applications like wind energy, which have grown at more than 40 percent in the
U.S. in 2007 and 2008. In spite of current economic uncertainties, the foundation for demand growth is solid for the longer term.”
Other partners who helped with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, Cleveland County, Cleveland 20/20 Economic Development Partnership, City of Shelby, Gardner-Webb University and Cleveland Community College.
"It is good to see PPG moving forward in job creation during these challenging times. I think this shows that the workforce and employers in Cleveland County can buckle down and actually grow during an economic downturn. I hope many of our other industries will be in a position to expand jobs during this period." said Representative Tim Moore. North
Carolina representative Debbie Clary added “PPG’s announcement is the perfect example of working with current business to grow jobs. We thank them for their investment in the people of our community.”
Cleveland County Commissioners played a key role in incentivizing and assisting with PPG’s announcement. Chairwomen Jo Boggs said, “This is such wonderful news and I am so excited to see that the PPG is able to restart the furnaces for the production of the wind turbine blades.” Eddie Holbrook, Vice-Chair
echoed Boggs’ statement commenting, “With the economy in its present state it is very refreshing to see some positive news and especially on the home front....Thanks to PPG and their faith in Cleveland County and our citizens and workforce.....our hope is that we will do everything possible to make them proud of this decision.”
Commissioner Johnny Hutchins added, “We have worked hard and will continue to do so with new jobs and announcements like this. It takes teamwork between Cleveland 20/20, the Chamber, and the County Commissioners to achieve this kind of success for our County. This is only one of the many projects we are working on and hope to attract more in the
future.”
For more information about PPG Industries, including employment opportunities, go to: www.ppg.com.
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