It’s been a little more than two years since Greenville was selected as the location for CiTiC Dicastal to form and launch its first aluminum wheel plant outside of China
The new company, Dicastal North America Inc., was formed in August 2014 and remodeling activity began on a site with two buildings located in the city’s industrial park, previously occupied by United Solar Ovonic.
Much time, effort, and an investment of $140 million is being spent to transform the two factory buildings into one interconnected world class facility with an aim to be a leader in its industry.
And now, that goal continues to grow ever-closer, as the company makes its final preparations for all operations in the production of aluminum wheels to be performed in-house.
On May 26, the first sense of reality hit home for the company and its employees.
Leaders from Dicastal North America’s parent company, CiTic Dicastal Co. Ltd. of Qinhuangdao, China, arrived on site in Greenville to celebrate the plant’s first outgoing shipment of wheels.
Following that first shipment, work began to increase at the company.
Officials from Dicastal declined to comment for this story when contacted by The Daily News, but area community members such as Kathy Jo VanderLaan, who is a business development coordinator with The Right Place working for Montcalm County, said the company has recently seen an uptick in both hiring and production.
According to VanderLaan, this past spring, Dicastal was operating with approximately 90 employees, but now, employment at Dicastal has surpassed a necessary benchmark of 150 employees, placing total employment at more than half of the original stated goal of 300 total employees.
On Sept. 9, Greenville City Manager George Bosanic made a “pleasant trip” to the company during which he hand-delivered a check that contained the final portion of a $5 million Community Development Block Grant through the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
“They met the 150 (employee) mark, which was the final qualification for that grant,” Bosanic said. “They met all of their milestones for hiring, and that’s good news, it’s big news. We’re happy to know that they’ve been successful to this point. It’s a good thing, it’s a very good thing.”
According to VanderLaan, Dicastal was able to qualify for the grant because it located the plant in a “low to moderate income community.”
“There’s a lot of work that goes into that,” she said. “We’re all partners in this and we need to work together.”
VanderLaan added that Dicastal isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, as they are now up to 180 hired employees.
Production at the plant hasn’t yet neared 100 percent, but VanderLaan said she expects production to reach that point early next year.
“The wheel casting is still being done in China, they are shipping those over and machining and painting them here,” she said. “They will start the casting part the foundry work next year.”
Globally, CiTic Dicastal produces approximately 50 million wheels per year, with the Greenville plant hoping to become one of the largest manufacturers of wheels within the Dicastal family, producing approximately three million wheels annually.
With the recent completion of the Community Block Grant, several community leaders stated they were excited to see the progress at the plant.
“I think it’s wonderful, and these funds, it’s because they met their landmarks, which is a great accomplishment,” Greenville Mayor John Hoppough said. “It’s great for Greenville when things like this can happen. The jobs, the new restaurants, new gas stations — everybody else can benefit — and I think it’s taking lemons and making lemonade.”
Greenville City Councilman Mark Lehman said it took a lot of work on the part of several organizations, both local and state, to bring Dicastal to Greenville, and for that, he offered his congratulations.
“It’s certainly worth congratulating Dicastal. Good things happen when companies take a product, and make something out of it,” he said. “To the degree that the city had anything to do with helping them get into a very specified, huge, building, I think it’s fantastic. They’ve obviously done a lot of remodeling. I think it’s a spectacular thing.”
According to VanderLaan, there was extensive remodeling at the facility.
When occupied by United Solar Ovonic, the site featured two 250,000 square-foot buildings.
However, upon Dicastal taking over the buildings, an additional 100,000 square-foot section was constructed to connect the two buildings, effectively creating one large factory.
According to Bosanic, just walking into the facility creates a sense of wonder.
“It’s a first class facility,” he said. “It was great to have those buildings available, that they they could come and consider coming here to Greenville.”
One of the key components of finding employees for Dicastal is having qualified applications, which Montcalm Community College has been working to help achieve.
According to MCC President Bob Ferrentino, the college is now working with three robotics companies to offer training programs at the Bill Braman Family Center for Education at the college’s Greenville campus.
Ferrentino said the college had been training on FANUC Robotics for several years, but upon hearing that Dicastal was also going to be using KUKA Industrial Robots, they immediately made a decision to expand.
“That’s a different company entirely,” Ferrentino said. “But I said, ‘make it happen.’”
Now, employees of Dicastal are currently going through training at the Braman Center using robotics technology from both companies.
“It’s a night and day difference from when the building opened four years ago,” Ferrentino said. “We’re quite nimble now. We have three different brands of robotics equipment available now at the Bramen Center. We have a complete machine room. Everything that we’ve been talking about related to the need for a skilled work force, at least with basic manufacturing skills, that’s what is going on the Greenville Campus.”
Ferrentino said there are 200 apprentices registered at the college this semester, compared to only four apprentices five years ago.
“That’s employers investing in their employees,” he said. “With a $5,000 Michigan New Jobs Training Grant supporting Dicastal’s efforts, it’s all good, in terms of where we are heading.”
Speaking recently at Montcalm Community College, U.S. Congressman, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, described the relationship between the college and local manufacturers as “really innovative.”
“Montcalm Community College is in a great position to lead that for Michigan,” he said. “When I talk to business manufactures, around the state, there was sort of a feeling that we were going to lose manufacturing, but now it’s actually coming back and we’re very excited to see the jobs and the opportunities.”
As Dicastal moves forward into the future, VanderLaan said the relationships that have developed through the company and area organizations will only continue to benefit the surrounding communities.
“Workforce development is economic development, you cannot separate the two,” she said.
Source: Thedailynews.cc
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