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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Aluminum Manufacturer To Expand Its Plant In Delhi, Louisiana

02/21/2012
Sapa Extrusions North America, an aluminum manufacturer producing products that range from sliding doors to stadium seats, will expand its factory in Delhi, a city of just over 3,000 residents in northeast Louisiana. Sapa Extrusions is subsidiary of the Orkla Group, based in Stockholm Sweden.

Plant manager Ron Ballman said Sapa will hire 37 workers as a result of the expansion. It's estimated the expansion will also create 65 indirect jobs in the region. The expansion will allow the company to make platforms and stairs along with enhancing its existing operations, Ballman explained.

"Louisiana was a good fit for many reasons," said Ballman. "First, the extrusions were already being produced here, so product familiarity already existed. The availability of a skilled workforce was key to the decision, along with the reasonable costs associated with the location and along with the proximity of major shipping lanes, such as Interstate 20. But having funds available from Louisiana Economic Development was the real deal-closer."

To secure the expansion, Louisiana Economic Development offered Sapa a performance-based grant of $300,000 from a state Rapid Response Fund to help pay for equipment relocation and infrastructure preparation. In addition, the company is expected to utilize Louisiana's Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption incentives. Locally, Delhi municipal officials provided the 50,000-square-foot former Duracraft industrial building at a favorable long-term lease rate to incentivize the project.

"For nearly 30 years, Sapa has manufactured aluminum products in Delhi ranging from automatic sliding doors used by Walmart to structural aluminum used at football stadiums. This expansion will allow the company to compete for work in the lucrative petroleum and chemical industry sectors, along with diversifying its product line," said Governor Bobby Jindal.

Louisiana Economic Development's Business Expansion and Retention Group began working with the company in April 2011 after Sapa decided to close a manufacturing plant in Magnolia, Arkansas, he said. Sapa evaluated multiple states in deciding where to move that plant.

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