P&A Industrial Fabricators, a new company, picked Person County as the site for its plant. Many of the faces involved with the firm are familiar ones.
P&A was launched by two former employees of Collins & Aikman, the Michigan-based firm that shut three plants and laid off nearly 600 people in Person County in April. Collins & Aikman, which went bankrupt, had been the county's largest employer.
According to Governor Mike Easley's office, Claude Pruitt and Jack Adams are launching P&A, looking to land some of Collins & Aikman's former customers.
P&A will invest $2.8 million over the next three years and hire 65 workers. The company's plant will be located in Roxboro. It is to manufacture fabrics for paint rollers.
P&A will receive a $70,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. Such grants require a local match.
"This was a big endeavor for the two of us to put together, but it was made possible with our faith and the help of a number of people who wanted the project to stay here in Roxboro," Adams said in a statement. "We chose to stay in North Carolina because of the well-trained workforce already in place in Roxboro as well as the state and local grants and other incentives."
The jobs will pay an average weekly salary of $647 plus benefits, compared with the average Person County wage of $560 a week, excluding benefits.
Continental Components, meanwhile, will build a new plant and hire 34 workers over the next three years in Alamance County. The firm received a $35,000 One North Carolina Fund grant.
Continental, which is based in Oregon, makes hardwood moldings. The company's average wages will be $670 per week plus benefits. The average Alamance County wage is $598, excluding benefits.
"The Alamance County site is centrally located in North Carolina as well as the mid-Atlantic states and gives us an excellent location to serve existing customers and access to many other potential customers," said Lisa Johnson, chief executive officer of Johnson International, the parent company for Continental. "We looked at a number of locations, but the combination of state, county and city incentives helped to make this an easy decision."
Also participating in the recruitment process were the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community College System, Progress Energy, Alamance and Person counties and the cities of Mebane and Roxboro.
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
