West Terre Haute company to more than double operations, workforce

By Arthur E. Foulkes
The Tribune-Star

WEST TERRE HAUTE April 23, 2008 10:29 pm

— Business and government leaders celebrated the expansion of a West Terre Haute manufacturing facility Wednesday.
Sunshine added to the high spirits surrounding the announced expansion of Marion Manufacturing, a West Terre Haute-based maker of precision machine and manufacturing components.
“Our success here has made it necessary for us to expand,” said Tammy Marion, president of the company, which started as a one-person operation in a West Terre Haute garage in 1996.
The company has 35 employees today and plans to add between 45 and 50 jobs with the current expansion, she said.
Marion Manufacturing makes parts for tractors, combines, trucks, construction equipment, military equipment and aerospace, a company official said. The expansion will involve building a new 24,000-square-foot facility near the existing 20,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center on National Avenue.
“This is an example of taking on the world economy and winning,” said Gov. Mitch Daniels, who toured the facility Wednesday morning. “We’re proud of you and proud to be a part of this step forward.”
Marion Manufacturing has started recruiting workers for its expansion, Marion said. The company plans to hire machinists, engineers and quality technicians starting in 2009, according to a company media statement issued Wednesday.
The company recently secured a large new contract with Caterpillar, which is a big part of the expansion, Marion said. “I think the work is going to keep coming,” she said.
Caterpillar set a goal for a rejection rate of 400 parts per million, Marion said. Her company beat that goal, achieving a rate of just 36 rejected parts per million, she said.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Marion Manufacturing up to $175,000 in performance-based tax credits and up to $30,000 in training grants, the company media statement said. The town of West Terre Haute also offered a property tax abatement, the statement said.
Marion thanked Rod Henry of the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce and Steve Witt with the Terre Haute Economic Development Corp. for help getting state-backed incentives for the expansion. “Without them, we would never have been here today,” she said.
“This is a proud moment for this family and this community,” said Vigo County Commissioner Judy Anderson, who spoke at Wednesday’s brief ceremony. She was the bus driver for the family that started Marion Manufacturing more then 10 years ago. “When they say ‘you’ve come a long way, baby,’ they really have,” she said.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.