PUTNAM BUSINESS EXPANSION Nippon Thermostat Announces Expansion; 30 Jobs Expected
Reported by: Darrah Wilcox
Videographer: Troy Morgan
Web Producer: Bethany Simmons
Reported: Aug. 21, 2012 12:23 PM EDT
Updated: Aug. 22, 2012 11:34 AM EDT
Eyewitness News Photo
Fraziers Bottom
, Putnam County
, West Virginia
Nippon Thermostat announced a $4 million expansion to its Fraziers Bottom facility in the Putnam Business Park.
Leaders broke ground for the 26,000-square-foot facility on Tuesday. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin says, "It's always exciting when you're creating new jobs, and it's really nice the confidence that Nippon Thermostat has in West Virginia."
The company will double its West Virginia workforce, adding about 30 new jobs. Putnam County commissioner Joe Haynes says, "Anytime an existing business is expanding, that sends a message to all the other businesses that they've been here, they've done business here. The workers are good, they've found it's a good place to do business."
They currently produce parts for Toyota and Honda. The expansion will allow them to add Chrysler to that list.
Nippon Thermostat joins two other Japapese-based companies in West Virginia to announce expansion plans since Gov. Tomblin returned from a trade mission trip in Japan earlier this summer. They're also part of many growth projects going on in Putnam County this month, including new schools and the groundbreaking next week for the new animal shelter. Haynes says, "If companies like that are growing and expanding in Putnam County, there must be something there that makes it a good place to do business. So it's a very, very exciting time."
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