Carver Non-Woven Technologies bringing 65 jobs to Fremont

Carver is a new subsidiary of Grabill-based R3 Composites Corp., which employs 145 at a plant in that city making sheet molded compound parts for institutional furniture, automotive, household and swimming pool uses.

Carver expects to employ a workforce of up to 65 in Fremont by 2018 making high-end, lower-weight fiber products for automotive, household and recreational vehicle manufacturers. The fabric-like materials are bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat and solvent treatments.

The 143,580-square-foot facility at 706 E. Depot St. selected for the new operation has been vacant for nearly 10 years.

R3 Composites decided to lease the building partly because its dimensions fit the equipment the company will use in it and because the Amcast plant shutdown left some highly skilled workers in the city for it to employ, Kirk Klein, the company’s chief financial officer told Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly Friday.

The building’s location within 10 minutes of Interstates 69 and 80/90 also made it attractive because they provide quick access to nearby RV industry customers and major markets such as Chicago, Detroit and Indianapolis, he said.

Carver began renovations and hiring for the plant and will have production underway there sometime during next year’s second quarter.

“There will just be a handful to start with, then once production starts ramping up as we get closer to that date, we’ll start hiring more people,” Klein said.

The company plans to introduce cutting edge technology to the non-woven market, which will set a new standard for the creation of low variance sheet weight, highly homogeneous resonated blends and multiple fiber/glass matrixes with superior dimensional stability and mechanical properties.

Wages at the plant will be higher than the state’s average and more than $7 per hour above the average wage in Steuben County, the company said.

The average weekly wage for a Hoosier is $857, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics October report.

“Indiana’s tireless efforts to build the best business climate in the nation are paying dividends by attracting new companies and new jobs to the Hoosier State,” Gov. Mike Pence said in a statement.

“We are proud to welcome Carver Non-Woven Technologies to Indiana, which boasts the highest concentration of private sector manufacturing jobs in the country. Hoosier businesses have added more than 10,000 new manufacturing jobs in the past year alone, and that growth will continue for years to come thanks to companies like Carver that choose Indiana to create quality jobs.”

Based on its job creation plans, Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Carver up to $475,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $75,000 in training grants.

“Having met Roy Carver, we’re happy to welcome Carver Non-Woven Technologies to Fremont,” Steve Brown, president of the Fremont Town Council, said in the statement.

“This is a great, family-owned business that will be a good fit for our community. We wish them success and are happy to be able to support this project and reuse of the vacant 144,000-square-foot Amcast building.”

Fremont plans to consider additional economic development incentives for the project at the request of the Steuben County Economic Development Corp.