HILDEBRAN, NC — Case goods and seating manufacturer Geiger International announced plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Hildebran, NC, west of Geiger International's Hickory. Geiger will invest $3.7 million over a three-year period to update and equip the 97,000-square-foot former Cox Manufacturing plant.
Production from Geiger's Hickory, NC, plant will be moved to the updated, larger facility. Geiger said it plans to add 40 employees to the 24 currently employed at the Hickory operation. Operations from Geiger's Lake Hills, WI, plant will also be moved to Hildebran. Plans call for the 60,000-square-foot Wisconsin plant to close in September, according to local media reports.
A statement by the Office of North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue said the Geiger furniture factory project was made possible, in part, by a $128,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. Perdue said the average salary at the new Geiger plant will be between $30,981 and $33,754, plus benefits. The average yearly wage in Burke County is $30,784.
Geiger International was acquired in 2000 by Herman Miller Inc. The Zeeland, MI-based office furniture giant Herman Miller, which posted $414.8 million in third quarter sales last month, a 26 percent gain, is in expansion mode, acquiring Hong Kong-based POSH Office Systems last month. "We are making strategic advances across the organization through a combination of new products, channel development and geographic expansion," Herman Miller CEO Brian Walker said in a statement last month, "with still more opportunity ahead."
Production from Geiger's Hickory, NC, plant will be moved to the updated, larger facility. Geiger said it plans to add 40 employees to the 24 currently employed at the Hickory operation. Operations from Geiger's Lake Hills, WI, plant will also be moved to Hildebran. Plans call for the 60,000-square-foot Wisconsin plant to close in September, according to local media reports.
A statement by the Office of North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue said the Geiger furniture factory project was made possible, in part, by a $128,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. Perdue said the average salary at the new Geiger plant will be between $30,981 and $33,754, plus benefits. The average yearly wage in Burke County is $30,784.
Geiger International was acquired in 2000 by Herman Miller Inc. The Zeeland, MI-based office furniture giant Herman Miller, which posted $414.8 million in third quarter sales last month, a 26 percent gain, is in expansion mode, acquiring Hong Kong-based POSH Office Systems last month. "We are making strategic advances across the organization through a combination of new products, channel development and geographic expansion," Herman Miller CEO Brian Walker said in a statement last month, "with still more opportunity ahead."
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