Local economic development officials are focused on convincing General Electric Co., to move a U.S. plant to Windsor and Essex County, Rakesh Naidu, interim CEO of the economic development corporation, said Monday.
“It’s definitely my big focus,” said Naidu, adding that he reached out to the company shortly after hearing about its plans last week to shift production from the U.S. to Canada.
“We’re talking about a significant number of jobs. We’d love to have a company like GE in our region and we’re doing our best to make the case for Windsor-Essex.”
General Electric announced Monday plans to move 350 U.S. jobs to Canada over the next two years from a manufacturing plant in Waukesha, Wis.
GE said it will invest $265 million in a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Canada to make large piston engines generally used for compression, mechanical drive and power generation applications.
The company has yet to make a decision on where it will locate the plant, but Naidu said the region has enough attributes to put it at the top of any short list.
“When it becomes so public, you can expect there will be other jurisdictions quite interested in it,” said Naidu.
“But I think we have a lot to offer in terms of manufacturing capability, component design and assembly and shipping to the U.S. and other markets.
“We can do the whole thing in one location. And there aren’t too many other jurisdictions with the strengths we have.”
Naidu said he heard about GE’s plan last week “through his network of contacts.”
He said he has been in touch with federal, provincial and municipal officials to help build the case for Windsor and Essex County.
Landing the plant would be a big boost to an area hard hit by the recession and saddled with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Naidu said the 350 direct jobs could translate into an additional 1,000 spinoff jobs.
“There a good number, and a lot of opportunity in the supply chain including machining, fabrication, design and engineering,” he said.
The region also offers a number of greenfield and brownfield sites, Rakesh added.
General Electric said it plans to move production of large, gas-powered engines from the U.S. to an unspecified location in Canada, to benefit from trade financing from Export Development Canada.
With files from the Financial Post
Find Windsor Star on Facebook
