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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Sept. 14, 2016) — Constellium-UACJ today opened its $150 million aluminum auto body sheeting plant in Warren County. The facility currently employs 65.
The plant will produce finished aluminum body sheets and distribute them to the country’s major automotive manufacturers. Construction of the 225,000-square-foot facility began in summer 2014. The building, located in the the Kentucky Transpark, is designed to allow for future expansion.
The state in 2014 preliminarily approved a $4.5 million tax incentive agreement for the company based in part on creation of up to 80 full-time jobs across a decade. South Central Kentucky’s skilled workforce and proximity to automakers across the Midwest and South made Warren County a natural fit for the project.
Constellium-UACJ is a joint venture between Constellium and UACJ, two established global aluminum industry players with roots in Europe and Japan. Both will supply aluminum coils that will be treated and processed at the Bowling Green facility.
Tri-Arrows Aluminum will also supply cold rolled aluminum coils to the new facility. Tri-Arrows Aluminum, headquartered in Louisville, is a subsidiary of UACJ. The company manufactures base aluminum coils at its joint-venture operating mill at Logan Aluminum in Russellville.
Constellium is a global sector leader that develops innovative, value-added aluminum products for a broad scope of markets and applications, including aerospace, automotive and packaging. The company operates 22 manufacturing sites worldwide and has corporate offices in New York, Paris and Zurich, Switzerland. It employs over 10,000 people worldwide.
UACJ is an aluminum industry leader established in 2013 from a merger of Furukawa-Sky Aluminum and Sumitomo Light Metal Industries. Both companies have an extensive history of aluminum production in Japan. UACJ has more than 70 group companies throughout the world and boasts the world’s third largest aluminum production capacity.
To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) in 2014 preliminarily approved the company through the Kentucky Business Investment program for tax incentives up to $4.5 million based on creation of up to 80 full-time jobs. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.
Additionally, KEDFA approved Constellium-UACJ for up to $1.5 million in tax incentives through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act (KEIA). KEIA allows approved companies to recoup Kentucky sales and use tax on construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing.
Constellium-UACJ also can receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network. Through the Kentucky Skills Network, companies are eligible to receive no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives. Last year, the Kentucky Skills Network trained more than 84,000 employees from more than 5,600 Kentucky companies.
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