CLARK Material Handling Company, a subsidiary of South Korea-based Young An Corporation and global manufacturer of forklift trucks, will invest nearly $4.8 million to expand its manufacturing plant in Lexington, Kentucky. The company plans to create 30 jobs in the region.

Beginning in May 2016, CLARK will start production of its popular ECX (four-wheel electric) and TMX (three-wheel electric) models in Lexington, which were previously produced in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The ECX and TMX will join the NPX, ESX, PWX and HWX models, which are currently produced in CLARK's Lexington manufacturing facility.

According to company officials, In conjunction with this reshoring of production to Lexington, CLARK purchased an adjacent four acre parcel of land including a multipurpose building to augment its existing facilities which now total over 162,000 square feet at the Lexington campus. This expansion at CLARK is the first phase in growing its global footprint in North America, Brazil and Europe. When the expansion is complete, by 2020, it is anticipated that CLARK's global manufacturing capabilities will have grown 1.5 times from its current size.

"The investment CLARK is making today in its Lexington manufacturing operations is a direct result of the significant increase in business opportunities which CLARK has experienced over the past two years," said Dennis Lawrence, CLARK's President/CEO. "The expansion of manufacturing operations in North America solidifies CLARK's long term commitment to its dealers and customers while providing additional employment opportunities for Central Kentuckians."

As an incentive to encourage CLARK’s investment and job growth, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $400,000 through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows the 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, CLARK was preliminarily approved by KEDFA for $100,000 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. CLARK also can receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network.