News

U.S. Farathane expands to the South

March 15, 2006 - Jackson, Tennessee, has been chosen as the site of plastics manufacturer U.S. Farathane’s first expansion outside its Michigan base.

Farathane has purchased a 166,000-square-foot building in Jackson. The automotive supplier and two-shot molding specialist will employ 80 workers when it opens and 130 by 2007.

Farathane is based in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and has four injection molding and two extrusion plants in that state. The company makes a variety of automotive parts, including window-latch assemblies, headrest guides, taillight panels, and interior trim items.

The move to Jackson involves a switch to much larger presses for Farathane, including 1,500- and 2,000-ton machines. Twenty presses will be running in Jackson by the end of 2006, including seven that are 1,500 tons or larger, says Andrew Greenlee, Farathane’s president and CEO.

The move will put Farathane closer to more Big Three automotive plants and help it win additional business from the U.S. plants of Asian and European carmakers located in the region. The logistics are more favorable than shipping from Michigan, according to Greenlee. He also cited local and state tax abatements and training grants as significant factors in the location decision.

U.S. Farathane was named Processor of the Year for 2005 by Plastics News magazine and has also won top supplier awards from Lear Corporation, Johnson Controls, and others.