Structural Composites of Indiana expanding

Ligonier firm expanding

By Bob Buttgen bbuttgen@kpcnews.net

Thursday, September 13, 2012, 1:00am

LIGONIER — Structural Composites of Indiana, with headquarters and production facilities in the Ligonier Industrial Park, has been adding jobs and now is set to expand its operation.

Earlier this week, officials of SCI went before the Ligonier City Council and the city’s Redevelopment Commission to ask for a tax abatement on an expansion at their Gerber Street location.

The city granted the company an abatement on $135,000 in improvements to its factory that include purchasing an adjacent building. The building formerly owned by Moore Logging was sold to SCI about 10 days ago.

“We’ve added about 20 jobs in the last month,” said Scott Rassler, operations manager for SCI. “We look to continue that growth of new jobs starting in the new year.”

The company has 89 full-time employees.

By adding a second building, the company will bring more of its work in-house instead of outsourcing it to other firms, which will allow SCI to create more jobs.

SCI produces products for a number of industries and markets including recreational vehicles, agricultural, transportation, rail and the military. The company always is looking to expand its market base and is working on new projects on a constant basis, Rassler said.

One of the products SCI is making for the Department of Defense is an external fiberglass covering for nonlethal weapons.

“It’s kind or ironic with what happened in the Mideast yesterday, but some of our products will be used as part of protection systems at American embassies overseas to help with crowd control,” Rassler said Wednesday.

SCI is also making composite parts for Raytheon, a major military contractor. Fiberglass cases made in Ligonier will protect computer systems used by the military.