TOLEDO, Ohio -
A Lucas County company is quickly growing, and more jobs could be on line by the end of this year. The old Ford plant in Maumee is now home to Maumee Assembly and Stamping.
The company has increased its business and employees in recent months, and the turnaround at the plant has been relatively fast, especially in a rough economy.
Ford closed the plant in 2007. Less than five years later, the facility is in the midst of a real growth spurt. Many of the workers are former Ford employees, and dozens of new hires could be on the floor by the end of the year.
Maumee Assembly and Stamping is locally owned and operated. The plant does stamping and assembly work for a variety of customers, ranging from the auto to the appliance industry.
"We're going to do about $20 million in sales this year. We've been seeing growth the past two years in the 80-100 percent range. We've had a lot of people help us get there," says President and CEO Gene Swick. "We're just happy to build a team here and have it grow and provide some good employment for our community."
Swick says diversification is key to long term success.
"Ideally, we'd like to have four, five, six major customers in different markets," he says, "so as the economy fluctuates we can take the curves and stay solid."
The Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce has played a big part in helping the owner bring new life to the old Ford plant.
Bill Wersell is VP of Business Development for the chamber. He says, "Former facilities like this are coming back, like the Phoenix rising out of the ashes, and responding to demand and growing quickly again."
Employment numbers at the plant have steadily increased, and about a hundred people could be on the job by the end of the year.
"In less than eight months, they've gone from 15 to 20 employees to having 65 to 70 on a daily basis," Wersell says. "As you can see, it's growing all the time."
At a time when some have written off the American manufacturing sector, Swick says this is just one example that proves them wrong.
He's confident that some of the business that has been lost in recent years is headed back to America.
"I think we'll see jobs coming back out of Mexico to some degree," he says, "and some jobs coming back from the Far East. The United States needs to manufacture. It's the core of our businesses and processes. We're coming back."
Maumee Assembly and Stamping has been up and running since the summer of 2010. Right now, they are running a first and third shift, with some overtime work.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2012 WorldNow and WTVG. All Rights Reserved.
