Startup plans $7M Whitley County investment
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Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly
Startup plans $7M Whitley County investment
Staff Reports
Thursday, Sep. 06, 2012 at 8:50am
Startup company Indiana Materials Processing LLC plans to invest $7 million over five years in equipment and construction to establish a metals feedstock production facility in Whitley County, a company official said.
By 2015, the facility is projected to employ up to 22 people.
Abid Bengali, owner of Indiana Materials Processing, said the proximity of prospective customers, available work force and Indiana’s pro-business climate were among the factors that led to locating in northeast Indiana.
“What really swung it for me,” he said, “was the accommodating stance of the (Whitley County Economic Development Corp.)”
The facility will be in Rail Connect Business Park east of Columbia City, near U.S. 30 and County Road 600 East.
It will incorporate first-of-its-kind operational technology to create custom final products for steel mills and foundry customers by altering the composition of steel through chemistry or physical attributes, EDC officials said. The feedstock products will bridge the gap between secondary and tertiary recycling.
Indiana Materials Processing will become the second steel supplier at the 120-acre, certified site-ready Rail Connect Business Park. In 2011, Triad Metals International, a distributor of structural steel, opened a distribution facility at the park.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has offered Indiana Materials Processing up to $100,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $50,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans.
Whitley County approved additional tax abatement.
