FCC (Adams) Expanding in Berne
FCC Looking to Add 73 Jobs Over the Next Two Years
April 15, 2015
By Jim Langham
Berne Tri-Weekly News
At Monday night’s Berne City Council meeting, FCC came to the drawing boards with a proposed $128.6 million investment for the community. Adams County Economic Development director Larry Macklin referred to the project as, “a huge and powerful commitment from FCC-Adams for Berne and Adams County” and noted that it proposes to create 73 new jobs as the expansion grows over the next two years.
“Added to the current base employment, that would be over 400 jobs,” observed Macklin
Macklin said that the investment would involve $116.7 million for new state of the art manufacturing equipment, plus another $11.9 million for a new 140,000 square foot industrial building and real estate improvements.
Sandra Affolder, Administrations Manager, and Brent Geesaman, Vice President of FCC-Adams, were with Macklin.
In addition to the FCC announcement, Macklin offered another bit of good news for the Adams County business community.
He noted that the State of Indiana through the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has offered $275,000 in Hoosier Business Investment tax credits. Besides that, the Northeast Indiana Works has offered about $26,000 in training funds along with recruitment and employment services.
“Adams County unemployment numbers continue to drop, lower than the country and state averages, currently about 4.8 percent,” said Macklin. “It is these types of investments that help our community to grow and hopefully bring families here,” Macklin said.
“We know that this is growth right here at home; it is the backbone for our jobs,” continued Macklin. “FCC is and has been a major contributor to that growth.”
Macklin noted that the proposed project is the fourth such large expansion since FCC located in the community in 2004.
Macklin gloated in area business success as he praised other businesses receiving approving of CF1 applications at Monday’s meeting.
“This is a great evening for Berne and Adams County,” said Macklin. “Not many communities are as blessed as this community for good corporate business. We need to applaud those who provide the jobs that feed the families.”
