Steel manufacturer to invest more than $59 million to expand St. Joe operations

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): A steel manufacturing operation will expand its DeKalb County operation with an investment exceeding $59 million, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun announced Thursday.

Vulcraft, a division of Nucor Corp., will also add up to 20 high-wage jobs by the end of 2027, a news release said. Founded in 1946, the company launched operations in St. Joe in 1972.

Vulcraft employs more than 300 Hoosiers in northeast Indiana. It will break ground on the new facility in the fourth quarter.

John Hollatz, a Vulcraft executive vice president, said Vulcraft is where Nucor got its start in the steel industry and that sector remains an important part of its growth.

The company is pleased to grow the Vulcraft business in Indiana with an investment that will allow it to better serve customers and strengthen our downstream production capabilities, Hollatz, who oversees fabricated construction products for the company, said in a statement. He cited a company mission to “Grow the Core and Expand Beyond.”

Collin Bice of the DeKalb County Economic Development Partnership said the Vulcraft’s upcoming investment “grew out of a business retention and expansion visit” last year.

“Since then, we’ve stayed closely engaged and were able to work alongside Vulcraft to help them secure both state and local incentives to support the project,” said Bice, president and CEO of the Economic Development Partnership. “Seeing that relationship turn into a $59 million investment and new high paying jobs is a great example of why consistently staying connected with our existing employers is such an important part of what we do.”

Bice called the investment a “major win” for the county.

“It really shows Vulcraft believes in this community, our workforce, and DeKalb County as a place they want to continue investing and growing,” Bice said through email.

The investment will expand existing manufacturing operations in St. Joe, with the company constructing and equipping a new 127,000-square-foot facility on its 250-acre site. The increased space will allow Vulcraft to manufacture steel grating products, becoming one of four Vulcraft locations – two in Canada and one additional in the US – to offer the products that are used for industrial flooring and stair treads.

Vulcraft already manufactures steel joists and joist girders and steel decking in Indiana, making its northeast Indiana location a one-stop-shop for innovative and sustainable steel solutions.

“Indiana’s robust advanced manufacturing sector and our skilled talent pipeline make our state the perfect destination for Vulcraft’s multi-million-dollar expansion,” Braun said in a statement. “The company’s expansion in northeast Indiana will contribute to a strong and growing regional economy while creating new, high-wage career opportunities that allow Hoosiers to prosper.”

The new investment in DeKalb County will mark Nucor’s fourth major investment in Indiana in recent years, a news release said. In 2022, the company announced a $290 million modernization investment at its sheet mill operations in Crawfordsville and the following year announced plans to locate a $115 million Towers & Structures facility nearby.

Nucor also invested $28.5 million to build an insulated metal panel production facility, which began operations in 2021, in Waterloo next to its existing Nucor Building Systems Indiana campus. Combined, the expansions along with Vulcraft’s growth announced Thursday account for 300 new Hoosier jobs.

Nucor employs more than 2,600 people at more than a dozen locations in Indiana, the release said.

At the local level, the DeKalb County Council approved a 10-year real property tax abatement and a nine-year personal property tax abatement for the project, Bice said. The council ultimately approved the incentives 7-0.

At the state level, he said, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation also awarded Vulcraft incentives through the Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credit and the Hoosier Business Investment (HBI) tax credit. Both are designed to support the new job creation and capital investment associated with the project.

Companies like Vulcraft and Nucor are helping Indiana’s manufacturing economy grow, Indiana Secretary of Commerce Chuck Goodrich said in a statement.

“Indiana manufacturing continues to grow thanks to companies like Vulcraft and its parent company, Nucor Corporation, which are creating jobs across the state,” Goodrich said in a statement.

“This significant investment in Vulcraft’s operations will continue to propel innovation and excellence in Indiana manufacturing, putting Hoosiers at the forefront of producing critical products used around the country and across the world,” he said.

Once complete, the 20 new jobs Vulcraft is adding are expected to have average wages more than 150% of the county’s average.

As of the first quarter this year, Bice said the average annual wage across all industries in DeKalb County is $63,025 and for those in manufacturing jobs it is $86,269.

Courtesy: www.journalgazette.net