A German fan maker plans to build a new $37 million manufacturing plant in Northeast Tennessee and hire 200 workers over time.
Ebm-papst, the world's biggest electric motor and fan manufacturer based in Mulfingen, Germany, announced today it will begin making fans for refrigeration, air conditioning and ventilation applications in the Washington County Industrial Park. The new facility is set to begin production by September and will be the fourth foreign-based manufacturer to locate in the industrial park, which was supported with both state and TVA grants.
Ebm-papst has an international reach with more than 15,000 employees worldwide. The company's U.S. headquarters is located in Connecticut, where it employs approximately 300 people.
Mark Shiring, president of ebm-papst U.S., said the new Tennessee site "offers us excellent infrastructure and very good development opportunities."
"As an innovation leader, especially for energy-efficient fan solutions, we see great potential for further growth in North America," Shiring said in an announcement today. "For us, the new location is an excellent complement to our headquarters in Farmington (Connecticut)."
The announcement of Ebm-papst's expansion plans comes two months after two other German manufacturers - Stulz Air Technology Systems Inc. and Hubner Manufacturing Corp. - announced plans for new facilities, respectively, in Dayton and Dunlap, Tennessee.
Over the past decade, more than two dozen German-based companies have located in Southeast Tennessee, investing more than $5 billion at the Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, the Wacker Chemie p0lysilicon plant in Charleston and many other auto and chemical suppliers to those firms.
"Tennessee is home to more than 120 German-owned establishments that employ nearly 20,000 employees," said Bob Rolfe, commissioner of the state Department of Economic and Community Development. "I want to thank ebm-papst for choosing to locate its new operations in Washington County and for boosting our foreign direct investment initiatives in our state by creating 200 jobs in the Northeast region."
Other companies in the Washington County Industrial Park include Bush Hog, a Swedish company called ALO-TN which was the first to locate there in 1997, and two Japanese companies - Koyo/JTEKT and Nakaetsu Machining Technologies - which both opened in 2006.
To expand the park, the Tennessee Valley Authority awarded the industrial park a $350,000 site preparation grant in 2016, with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development provided another $473,405.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee today welcomed the new investment.
"Ebm-papst's decision to locate in Northeast Tennessee and create 200 jobs in Washington County showcases that our business environment and skilled workforce continue to be assets for companies looking to locate new operations," Lee said.