Ohio manufacturer relocates to Northeast Indiana

General Products Corporation (www.general-products.com), a manufacturer of precision machined and assembled engine and chassis components, will relocate its headquarters and manufacturing operations from Columbus, Ohio to Angola, Ind.

General Products will invest more than $7.8 million to make the move The company has a 125,000 sq. ft. facility in Angola and employs more than 60 people there. It will begin hiring machine operators, maintenance personnel and professional staff later this summer to accommodate the facility's increased production demands and expects to create as many as 61 new jobs by 2011.

"We continue to outrun all of our Midwestern competitors for new job-creating investment from companies like General Products, but we can't let up for a minute," Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said.

"The introduction of this new business supports our strategy to diversify and grow through introducing new products and new customers in existing and growth markets," Tim Bennett, general manager at General Products said.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered General Products Corporation up to $650,000 in tax credits and up to $72,500 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. The City of Angola will consider property tax abatement at the request of the Steuben County Economic Development Corporation.

General Products' decision to relocate its corporate headquarters to northeast Indiana comes less than three months after global manufacturer and distributor of dental products Heraeus Kulzer announced its plans to relocate its North American headquarters from Armonk, N.Y. to South Bend, Ind. creating 45 new jobs by 2012 . Since the creation of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation in 2005, more than 40 companies have located or expanded their headquarters in the Hoosier state, bringing the promise of nearly 8,000 new jobs and more than half a billion in new capital investment.