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Billionaire
owner of
Flex-N-Gate
Detroit
starts
production
with 50
percent
Detroit-based
workers
• Global
auto
parts
manufacturer
partnering
with
Detroit
at Work
to
train,
hire
Detroiters
• One in
every
two
employees
are
Detroiters,
hiring
and
training
still
underway
• $160
million
plant is
largest
investment
by an
auto
supplier
in
Detroit
in over
20 years
DETROIT
-
Flex-N-Gate
owner
Shad
Khan,
Governor
Rick
Snyder
and
Mayor
Mike
Duggan,
along
with
state
and
local
leaders
today
officially
opened
the
global
auto
supplier’s
new $160
million
manufacturing
facility
on the
city’s
east
side.
Flex-N-Gate
Detroit
began
production
today
with
significant
Detroit-based
workforce,
with 50
percent
of the
first
230
employees
living
in the
city.
Flex-N-Gate
will
continue
to hire
Detroiters
first as
they
ramp up
production
and
residents
can
still
access
training
and
apply
for
these
new jobs
through
Detroit
at Work.
The
manufacturing
facility,
the
largest
investment
by an
auto
supplier
in the
City of
Detroit
in over
20
years,
will
supply
parts to
Ford
Motor
Company
and
could
employ
up to
750
people
at full
capacity.
Flex-N-Gate
is a top
global
auto
supplier
of
exterior
trim
components,
aluminum
and
steel
modular
stamped
body in
white
and
chassis
assemblies,
lighting
and
other
OEM
automotive
products.
“This
plant
and the
benefits
it will
bring to
Detroit
and its
workforce
gives me
as much
pride as
anything
I’ve
been
part of
over my
many
years
with
Flex-N-Gate,”
said
Shad
Khan,
Owner
and CEO
of
Flex-N-Gate.
“It’s
amazing
to have
worked
with
partners
representing
the
state,
city and
Ford who
shared
my goal
of doing
something
special
in the
city
proper
of
Detroit
– and
especially
for
those
who live
in the
city
limits –
by
creating
hundreds
of
sustainable
manufacturing
jobs,
investing
in their
training
and
providing
a
pathway
to
making a
solid
middle-class
living.
I’m very
proud of
our
collective
effort
as well
as the
opening
of a new
facility
that
will be
the gold
standard
for
technology,
efficiency
and
safety.”
Flex-N-Gate
joins
other
new
manufacturing
and
industrial
facilities,
including
LINC
Logistics
and
ArcelorMittal
Tailored
Blanks,
in an
area
that
just 10
years
ago was
mostly
vacant
land and
abandoned
buildings.
The
480,000
square
foot
facility,
which
broke
ground
in April
2017, is
the
centerpiece
to the
city’s
growing
I-94
industrial
Park and
is a
sign of
the city
and
state’s
success
in
attracting
more
manufacturing
jobs
back to
Detroit.
“Detroit
is the
comeback
city in
the
nation
and
commitments
to
Michigan
like the
ones
made by
Flex-n-Gate
are
going a
long way
to
ensure
that
comeback
continues,”
said
Gov.
Rick
Snyder.
“Cooperation
is the
key to
success
and this
project
shows
what can
happen
when
people
work
together
for
their
neighbors,
their
city and
the
state as
a
whole.”
“Ford
Motor
Company
is
pleased
to
support
Flex-N-Gate,
the City
of
Detroit,
and the
State of
Michigan
for
bringing
this new
facility
and jobs
to the
area,”
said
Burt
Jordan,
Vice
President
Global
Vehicle
&
Indirect
Purchasing
and
Supply
Chain
Sustainability,
Ford
Motor
Company.
“This
project
is yet
another
step
toward
the
revitalization
of
Detroit
and the
auto
industry.”
Detroit
at Work
Flex-N-Gate
is
partnering
with the
City to
ensure
Detroiters
have
access
to jobs
and job
training
for the
new
positions
at the
manufacturing
facility.
So far
Flex-N-Gate
has
hired
over 100
workers
from
within
the
city.
“We
are
building
a city
where
anyone
who
wants a
job has
access
to one.
Through
Detroit
at Work,
Flex-N-Gate
has
hired
115
Detroiters
so far,
some who
live in
the same
neighborhood
as the
plant,”
said
Mayor
Mike
Duggan.
“As we
bring
more
manufacturing
facilities
to
Detroit,
we’re
going to
ensure
that
they
look to
Flex-N-Gate
as an
example
when it
comes to
putting
Detroiters
to
work.”
A
Detroit
At Work
training
program
to
prepare
Detroiters
for
these
jobs was
developed
by
Flex-N-Gate
and
Focus:HOPE.
Training
was
available
for
Detroit
residents
for
hourly
positions
like
Hi-Lo
drivers
and
operators
and
Flex-N-Gate
hired 70
Detroit
graduates
of the
program.
Training
is still
available
and
Detroit
residents
can sign
up
through
detroitatwork.com
or by
calling
313-962-WORK.
Jobs for
Detroiters,
Benefits
for the
Community
Flex-N-Gate
Detroit’s
commitment
to hire
Detroiters
came out
of the
community
engagement
process
for the
project,
where
residents
voiced
concerns
about
access
to the
new
jobs.
Today,
as
Detroiters
continue
to fill
the
majority
of jobs
available
at
Flex-N-Gate,
work
continues
on a
solution
for
another
key
resident
concern:
truck
traffic.
In the
past,
trucks
from the
industrial
park
drove
through
residential
areas.
Now,
street
improvements
on
Georgia
Street,
along
the
facility’s
south
side,
are
underway
as part
of a
separate
$2.6
million
grant
from the
US
Department
of
Commerce
and the
Economic
Development
Administration.
The
Georgia
Street
improvements
will
fortify
the
streets
for the
new
trucks,
taking
them off
neighborhood
streets.
“Right
now
you’ve
got over
100
Detroit
residents
working
at
Flex-N-Gate,
and many
right
from the
area
around
the
plant,
which is
the
biggest
thing we
need
right
now in
the city
of
Detroit
to help
move our
people
out of
poverty,”
said
Councilman
Scott
Benson.
“Through
the
community
engagement
process
for
Flex-N-Gate,
the
residents
were
able to
voice
their
concerns
directly
to the
developers
and
negotiate
these
community
benefits.”
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