Premier Aluminum LLC, a Racine-based manufacturer of pressure-tight aluminum castings, broke ground last week on an 50,200-square-foot expansion that will more than double the size of its manufacturing plant.
Premier’s manufacturing space is now about 40,000 square feet.
The expansion will add more than 15,000 square feet of additional foundry space and 35,000 square feet of manufacturing space, said Jason Dannenberg, manufacturing manager for the company. The project will also remodel the company’s existing offices and shop.
Premier Aluminum’s castings are used in the food and beverage, electrical circuit breakers and utility, gasoline dispensing, robotics and machine tooling, turf care, television and cable, medical equipment, conveyor and processing equipment industries, Dannenberg said. The company has seen 8-percent to 10-percent annual revenue growth over the past five to six years, making the expansion necessary.
"The market has been very kind to us because of our diversification," Dannenberg said.
Premier Aluminum is owned by Ligon Industries LLC, a privately held firm based in Birmingham, Ala.
The company, headquartered in Racine, has a 30,000-square-foot satellite facility in Allenton, Wis. Premier Aluminum employs about 70 workers in Racine and about 30 in Allenton.
The expansion of the Racine plant is expected to be finished in May 2009 and could add up to 50 new jobs there in the following two to four years, Dannenberg said.
"This is somewhere shy of a $6 million investment, both in terms of machinery and expansion," he said.
For more information, visit http://www.premieraluminum.com/.
