TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/17/16 -- Martinrea International Inc. (TSX: MRE) announced today the ground-breaking of a new technical center at 2100 Opdyke Road in Auburn Hills, MI. The project is expected to be completed by summer 2017.
The 108,200 sq. ft. facility will allow Martinrea to combine its sales and engineering office currently located in Troy with its testing labs into a single location. The new building will also allow the company to expand its research and development activities.
"This is an exciting time for our company," said Pat D'Eramo, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We believe that sustainable competitive advantage for our company and our people comes from operational excellence in serving our customers and in technology that supports solutions for them. Our new technical center, emphasizing expanded research and development, engineering and testing capabilities, will help both. We are combining our US based sales, engineering and R&D teams in one state of the art facility. We have significantly grown our business and employee base in the United States and Michigan over the past decade, we are proud to be here, and we want to thank the city, the county and the state for their support."
The project is supported by a $420,000 performance-based grant from the state of Michigan and an eight-year property tax abatement valued at $852,000 from the city of Auburn Hills. The new facility will house 160 employees initially and is expected to create 60 additional jobs.
"We are thrilled that Martinrea has chosen to locate this technical center in Auburn Hills and appreciate its investment in our community," said Auburn Hills Mayor Kevin R. McDaniel. "Businesses are continuing to make strategic investments in Michigan and in today's competitive global environment, world-class businesses expect a world-class commitment from the communities in which they operate."
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said "Martinrea's expansion in Oakland County boosts our Emerging Sectors initiative which promotes job growth in the top 10 sectors of the knowledge-based economy, including advanced manufacturing. We are pleased Martinrea selected a site along the I-75 corridor where we are seeing robust investment from automotive technology companies."
ABOUT MARTINREA
Martinrea International Inc. (TSX: MRE) is a leader in the development and production of quality metal parts, assemblies and modules and fluid management systems and complex aluminum products focused primarily on the automotive sector. Martinrea currently employs over 14,000 skilled and motivated people in 44 operating divisions in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Slovakia, Spain and China. Additional information about Martinrea can be found at www.sedar.com.
Martinrea's vision for the future is to be the best, preferred and most valued automotive parts supplier in the world in the products and services we provide our customers. The Company's mission is to deliver: outstanding quality products and services to our customers; meaningful opportunity, job satisfaction and job security to our people through competitiveness and prudent growth; superior long term investment returns to our stakeholders; and positive contributions to our communities as good corporate citizens.
Contacts:
Martinrea International Inc.
Jim Parks
Director of Communications
(248) 878-0359
jim.parks@martinrea.com
Martinrea International Inc.
Fred Di Tosto
Chief Financial Officer
(416) 749-0314
fditosto@martinrea.com
