When a German company was looking for its first manufacturing facility outside of its home country, it picked a site north of Pittsburgh.
IMS Measuring Systems, which makes measuring equipment for the metals industry, recently broke ground on a new plant near its North American headquarters in Mars. The 9,500-square foot building is expected to be done in October.
John Buckman, the company's VP of operations, says workers in the new plant will make a new line of equipment that will use X-rays to measure the thickness of flattened rolls of steel. One driving force behind developing this new product is the auto industry's increased emphasis on the quality of the steel that goes into vehicles, he says.
This move marks the first time IMS will make its gauges outside of Germany. Buckman says the company wanted to take advantage the falling value of the U.S. dollar against the euro. Also, the firm will focus its initial marketing of its new equipment to North American customers. “It's all German dollars coming here to invest in the U.S.,” Buckman says.
IMS expects to hire about 20 people to work at the plant over the next three years, including students who it will train for jobs there. After three years it plans to sell more of its equipment in overseas markets like China, India and Indonesia.
Source: John Buckman, IMS Measuring Systems
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen