Israel Plastics Company Opening Auburn Plant
An Israeli manufacturer specializing in plastic parts for the automotive industry will open a plant in Auburn, and is slated to begin production in the next few months.
Arkal Automotive USA will open its first U.S. manufacturing operation at the Auburn Technology Park West in a 32,000 square foot facility that has room to expand to up to 110,000 square feet. In the first phase, the project will be an investment of $7.2 million and produce 25 new jobs.
Arkal Automotive is a division of Arkal Plastic Products. The parent company was founded in 1963 at Kibbutz Bet Zera, just south of the Sea of Galilee. Arkal was Israel’s first and largest manufacturer of injection-molded technical parts.
The automotive division was formed in 1997 to take advantage of the company’s expertise in plastics and to provide development, manufacturing and production solutions for the global automotive industry. The company currently has a Canadian facility serving automotive plants in Michigan and Ontario.
“For the last two years ARKAL has collaborated in a partnership with another Auburn-based company. Business at both companies apparently is strong enough to enable both companies to expand beyond that partnership,” explained Auburn Mayor Bill Ham.
“It is a good day for Auburn when a technology-driven company is planning to invest and hire people in our community.”
Ram Drori, general manager of Arkal Automotive Plastic, complimented Auburn’s economic development program. “The pro-business attitude and valuable input provided by the economic development team made the difference over other locations that we evaluated. We are looking for a long and good relationship with Auburn that will support our strategy of growing in this area.”
Arndt Siepmann, director of industrial development for Auburn, said the company is expected to begin production of components for the Hyundai plant near Montgomery and other automakers in February. The city has been working on the deal since April, passing an incentives package in June and a 10-year tax abatement last month.
