Published: March 27, 2009 10:24 pm         

Plans to expand: Fabrication/machinery company near Brazil growing, adding 40 new jobs

BRAZIL — Clay County became the second county in the Wabash Valley in the past 10 days with news that could alleviate its double-digit unemployment.

KIHM Metal Technologies, a fabrication and machinery company near Brazil, announced Friday plans to expand and add 40 new jobs.

Last week, Sullivan County residents welcomed the news from Peabody Energy about its plans for Bear Run Mine, south of Dugger. The mine will open later this year and eventually employ up to 350.

Gov. Mitch Daniels joined KIHM officials in a news conference at the business on Indiana 42. Daniels cited the potential for companies such as KIHM to help Hoosiers in the long run. Its high-tech, high-value, short-turnaround, specialized products will never be outsourced overseas, the governor said.

“The kind of work that’s being done here cannot be done anywhere by just anybody,” he said.

KIHM, which employs about 15 workers, counts among its existing customers such companies as Twigg Corp. (aerospace components). Bill Kaupp, co-owner of KIHM, said expansion will come about as workers make components of a fire suppression system for a Defense Department contractor.

“We’re hoping over the next three or four years to employ 40 to 50” people, he said.

Peabody has lined up two major Midwestern electricity generators as customers for the Sullivan County mine that will be the largest surface coal mine in the eastern United States. Peabody anticipates an output of 8 million tons of coal annually.

“I think it’s very good news for Sullivan County,” Sullivan Mayor Scott Biddle said last week. “The county has depended on the mining business for years, not only for tax purposes but for employment. So, hopefully it’ll be a boost for the economy and we can get miners back to work.”

Beth Sutton of Peabody Energy in St. Louis said the company will ramp up to its projected number of employees over a period of time and reach 350 workers at full strength.

“That will run the gamut from dragline operators and dozer operators to geologists, administrative specialists, agriculture specialists, you name it. All the traditional mining jobs,” she said.

Job seekers for Peabody can call 1-800-287-4031 for more information, she said.

Unemployment figures for January showed Sullivan County’s at 10 percent and Clay County’s at 11.

“Our first emphasis at the [state] Economic Development Corporation we created has always been on the parts of Indiana that are not doing as well,” Daniels said Friday.

John D. Wright can be reached at (812) 231-4255 or john.wright@tribstar.com.