New Flyer of America Inc. has announced that it is investing approximately $28 million for capital equipment and building preparations to establish a new part fabrication facility in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.
The 300,000 square foot facility will fabricate parts for the manufacture of New Flyer transit buses, MCI motor coaches and spare parts for NFI Parts — all business units of the NFI Group. Production is expected to commence during the second quarter of 2018 and once fully operational by December 2019, the facility expects to employ up to 550 people.
“As we continue with our goal of designing, manufacturing and supporting the industry’s best transit buses and motor coaches, we believe that owning and control of the fabrication of key parts of our supply chain (where we own the drawings and the intellectual property) are fundamental to our competitiveness and controlling overall cost, time, and quality,” stated Paul Soubry, president and chief executive officer of the NFI Group. “This new facility will build on our successful metal fabrication insourcing efforts over the past number of years, and most recently, our efforts to consolidate our fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) supply. Once fully operational the return on invested capital is expected to be accretive to the company’s current performance levels.”
The new facility, situated in Bullitt County, will be supported by tax incentives through the Kentucky Business Investment program. New Flyer will also receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network.
“New Flyer’s decision to locate in Kentucky further distinguishes the commonwealth as a top location for engineering and advanced manufacturing in the U.S.,” said Kentucky Governor Bevin. “The significant number of jobs coming to Shepherdsville and surrounding communities through this investment will be a major economic driver for years to come. We thank New Flyer for selecting Kentucky and congratulate officials and residents of Bullitt County on this major announcement.”
Wayne Joseph, president of New Flyer of America, commented that “after extensive research, we chose Kentucky due to its available workforce, lower operating costs, and central location relative to NFI Group’s other U.S. manufacturing plants.” The Shepherdsville facility will also provide additional U.S. content to assist in complying with the increased Buy America requirements under the 2015 FAST Act. Joseph further explained “targeted processes for this new facility include hose manufacture, injection molding and thermoforming plastics, metal fabrication and machining, powder coating, and electrical component manufacture – the majority of which is currently supplied by third parties.”
NFI Group currently employs 176 people at Parts Distribution Centers (PDC) in Louisville and Hebron in Kentucky.
