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Chiyoda granted abatement for robotics addition
Unable to hire additional employees through a depleted local workforce, Chiyoda USA Corp. is going the robotics route, and will invest nearly $2.7 million in new manufacturing and IT equipment at its East Side Greencastle facility.
The expansion project was awarded tax abatement by the Greencastle City Council in unanimous action at its September meeting.
“It’s personal property,” Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Director Kristin Clary told the Council. “It’s new machinery and equipment. They’re going to look to invest $2.4 million in manufacturing, $75,000 in logistics and about $202,000 in IT equipment.
“What they’re finding is they just don’t have the employees to fill all the jobs created, so they’re being very creative with robotics.”
While Chiyoda is not creating any new jobs with the equipment additions, it is retaining its jobs number at 260.
“It’s not because they don’t want to,” Clary continued. “They’d be happy to take on a couple of people that are willing to work hard, but they are just tapped out. As we know, the whole employee pool is tapped out.”
Kevin Redding, president and CEO of Chiyoda’s Greencastle operation, said that with 260 employees working fulltime, Chiyoda is “anywhere from 40 to 60 short.”
“We make up some of that with temporaries but we’re still not where we need to be,” he added. “But there’s not much of a choice here. The workforce is so depleted that we’re struggling just to get remaining targets.”
Under the most recent state unemployment figures, Putnam County is at 3.4 percent -- below that magic 4.0 figure that is considered full employment with only individuals unable to pass a drug test or without transportation or child care necessary to hold a fulltime job remaining in the market -- and all the while, “Now hiring” signs are virtually everywhere in Greencastle.
Mayor Bill Dory said he had the opportunity to tour Chiyoda’s plant on State Road 240 and came away impressed.
“They’re actually inventing some of this technology in-house,” Dory said, “both from a quality control standpoint as well as to deal with the labor shortage, and it’s pretty fascinating what their team has been able to put together to meet the needs of their customers.”
Redding explained that Subaru, for which Chiyoda is a Tier I supplier for its Lafayette assembly plant, is sending the Impreza back to Japan and moving the Crosstrek, a new SUV much more popular with Americans, to the U.S.
Councilman Dave Murray suggested that Chiyoda is potentially looking at producing more with less.
“What we want to do really is reduce our reliance on unskilled labor and create more technical and skilled jobs,” Redding responded. “Ultimately, that’s kind of what our target is. There’s still going to be a need for some of that unskilled labor but unfortunately there’s always going to be jobs that automation just can’t do, and we have to have.”
Even with abatement, a resolution for which was approved unanimously after a motion from Murray, Chiyoda will still be paying $113,500 in taxes over the next four years, Council President Mark Hammer pointed out. “They’ve paid over $3.5 million in property taxes since they’ve been here,” he added.
Beyond that, Redding stressed that Chiyoda “wants to be a better corporate citizen rather than just another company.”
And Clary gave him kudos for Chiyoda “upping its game.”
“Kevin has worked very hard to get some extra funding and really upped the starting salary over time,” Clary said. “It’s quite impressive to hear how they were at $11.50 to $12 an hour and then up to $15.50 and now close to $19 an hour starting pay with shift differentials and all.
“So they’re doing everything they can to try to find some of that labor.”