07/31/03
By MARIAN ACCARDI
Times Business Writer accardi@htimes.com
Matsu Inc., an automotive supplier based outside Toronto, will open a $25 million manufacturing facility in Huntsville that could employ up to 150 workers in three years.
The announcement was to be made later today at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce.
Matsu's 120,000-square-foot plant in Lowe Industrial Park will make metal stampings and welded assemblies for the automotive market. Art Artuso, Matsu's president and CEO, said the plant will serve original-equipment manufacturers in the Southeast and other so-called tier one manufacturers.
He said the company probably will start hiring near the end of this year and the beginning of 2004, with "in excess of 100" employees at first. Artuso expects production to start here in May or June.
"We'll continue to expand (employment) over the next three years," with as many as 150 employees eventually, he said.
Matsu is renovating 80,000 square feet of the former Hitachi Seiki building and building an additional 40,000 square feet.
The company, which has about 1,000 employees, has seven locations in Canada and another in Independence, Kan. Artuso said the company also looked at Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi when considering locations for expansion. He visited Huntsville about a half-dozen times.
"We like the makeup of the work force in Huntsville," he said. "We're going to need a mix of technical skill sets ... and Huntsville had the right blend of people."
Other locations might have been more cost-effective for the company, he said, but they "didn't have the labor pool we looked for."
"I think one of the things that helped us (in making a decision) was the reception we got" from Mayor Loretta Spencer, the city's Industrial Development Board and the chamber, Artuso said.
