Transglobal drives $7.5M investment into Warren Township

Commissioners OK tax abatement to build new manufacturing plant

WARREN TOWNSHIP -- An Ohio company that manufactures a variety of products in the transportation industry plans to invest up to $7.5 million to build and equip a new factory here to make doors for General Motors and Rivian electric vehicles.

Carey-based Transglobal Inc. won Trumbull County commissioners' approval for a 10-year, 40 percent tax abatement on three parcels of nearly 7 acres on North Park Avenue to build the approximately 40,000-square-foot plant.

Local economic development officials said after Wednesday's vote the project signals the area is ready and willing to develop the secondary supply chain in the electric-vehicle space, which has gotten a bump in large part to the multibillion-dollar investment at Ultium Cells.

"When you see an investment like Ultium, that is going to create a secondary supply market. What we fear greatly happening is the supply chain for internal combustion engines and what is going to happen, and how that is going to transition. And a new company doing doors for electric vehicles is how that transitions," Rick Stockburger, president / CEO of BRITE Energy Innovators in Warren, said.

The organization is Ohio's only clean tech and battery storage startup accelerator.

"From us in the energy space, we have companies from all over the world that we are talking to," Stockburger said. "But (they are) a lot of five-person employee, 10-person employee. They are not that big, but what I think is a cool opportunity is attracting small companies with a good runway to grow and that can grow with us."

"It's like, oh my gosh, I can run into an executive at Ultium at BRITE. Where else can you do that? It's the largest battery plant in the country and their business executives are walking around a business incubator in downtown Warren," Stockburger said. "That type of connectivity is what drives people."

Transglobal Inc., in exchange for the tax incentive, plans to create 90 full-time jobs at the site within three years of completing construction.

The plant is planned for land adjacent to Bral Corp. The abatement is for three properties near Bral Corp., a castings, metal stamping, forging and machining company that, according to the Trumbull County Auditor's Office, owns two parcels and sold one to Transglobal in May.

Shea MacMillan, director of economic development projects for the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, said Bral and Transglobal have a "strong relationship." Transglobal also was vetting locations in Michigan.

The company has a contract with GM and with Rivian, which supplies electric vehicles for Amazon, to supply the doors for the vehicles, MacMillan said. Construction on the plant will start in the near future, he said.

"Although they won the contract, it was really our job to make sure our community won the project," MacMillan said.

"They will be moving like gangbusters. … we started having this conversation to support their needs in November of last year," MacMillan said.

Transglobal plans to invest $4.8 million to $7.5 million in the project. A breakdown of the investment included in the enterprise zone agreement paperwork shows new additions and construction account for $2.5 million to $3 million; machinery and equipment, $1.2 million to $2 million; furniture and fixtures, $100,000 to $200,000; and inventory, $1 million to $2.3 million.

Warren Township trustees approved the abatement Tuesday.

"It just goes to show we are pretty well-positioned here in the Mahoning Valley to capture the electric-vehicle supply chain," MacMillan said.

rselak@tritboday.com