Cree Lighting plans to invest $8 million in its Racine County facility and potentially add 100 new manufacturing jobs.
The company already has more than 1,000 administrative and manufacturing employees at the facility at 9201 Washington Ave., Sturtevant.
North Carolina-based Cree Inc. sold Cree Lighting to Sycamore, Illinois-based Ideal Industries last year in a $310 million deal.
Cree Lighting said it plans to bring component manufacturing and final assembly work currently performed by outside vendors into the Sturtevant facility.
“Vertically integrating manufacturing operations is an important part of the Cree Lighting strategy,” said Craig Atwater, general manager and senior vice president, Cree Lighting. “By further investing in our industry-leading manufacturing capabilities at our Racine (County) facility, we can better serve our customers by reducing our lead times for these manufacturing processes from weeks to a matter of days.”
The company has already started the expansion work and expects to complete it over the next 12 months.
“This investment builds upon the Racine facility’s more than 30-year commitment to the community,” said Brian Kinnune, director of operations at Cree Lighting’s Sturtevant facility. “Our diverse workforce is dedicated to producing innovative, high quality, ultra-reliable products, and with this change the growth and development opportunities that exist for current and prospective employees is extremely promising.”
