(GunReports.com) — North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and state Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker have announced that Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. will establish a new manufacturing facility in Rockingham County. The company plans to create more than 450 new jobs in North Carolina by the end of 2017 and invest more than $26 million in the new Mayodan location.
“Advanced manufacturing companies like Ruger know that North Carolina is just the place for their company to grow and flourish,” said Governor McCrory. “The skilled manufacturing jobs that they’ll create will strengthen the Rockingham County economy and demonstrates the strong talent pool and attractive quality of life that characterizes this region of the state.”
Sturm, Ruger & Company is one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of high-quality firearms for the commercial sporting market, and a major producer of precision steel investment castings. Ruger produces hundreds of thousands of firearms each year for hunting, target shooting, collecting, self-defense, law enforcement and government agencies. The company currently employs more than 2,000 people at facilities in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Arizona.
Ruger is establishing a new manufacturing facility in North Carolina to accommodate its continued growth and planned new products. New positions will include production workers, tool makers, manufacturing engineers and product design engineers.
“Ruger has created 900 jobs over the last five years and we hope to continue this growth in Mayodan,” said Ruger President and CEO Mike Fifer. “There is a phenomenal work force in the area. We’ve had two job fairs. The response has been tremendous and the caliber of the potential employees is really impressive.”
Compensation for the new positions will vary by job function, but the average annual compensation will exceed $45,000, plus benefits. The average annual wage in Rockingham County is $33,007.
The project was made possible in part by an award to Ruger from the state Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) program, as voted by the state Economic Investment Committee. Receipt of the award is based on proof of job creation and other performance requirements. JDIGs are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state, and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant.
Under the terms of the company’s JDIG award, Ruger is eligible to receive up to twelve annual grants equal to 75 percent of the state personal income tax withholdings from the eligible new jobs created since the date of the initial award. Receipt of each annual grant is based on state-certified proof that the company has fulfilled incremental job creation requirements. Over twelve years, the JDIG award could yield aggregate benefits to Ruger of up to $9.46 million upon creation of 473 new jobs.
