The City of Seguin saw a huge number of job fair applicants for new employees for the new Texas Power Systems (TPS) LLC manufacturing facility.
TPS — a supplier of component manufacturing and assembly services to Caterpillar — will make and assemble C-9, C-13 and C-15 diesel engines and related products for Caterpillar as well as other clients worldwide.
American City Business Journals/San Antonio (5/11)
As such, the company is looking for job candidates in the skilled trades, production and professional/administrative areas.
Seguin Mayor Betty Ann Matthies says the company has already hired people for the assembly line as well as engineers, supervisors and security guards.
“So, they are in the process of already training the employees and hopefully, they will actually be starting in June to produce the engines,” Matthies says.
The company plans to have 300 to 400 people hired by the end of the year and to continue hiring employees for the next three years.
Kate Silvas, assistant director of economic development for the Seguin Economic Development Corp., says the city has been working with Caterpillar since 2008 to bring the plant to Seguin. The company is a subsidiary of Michigan-based Royal Oak Industries Inc. Royal Oak formed the Texas subsidiary in 2009.
“We worked with Caterpillar directly to attract the business to the community. We were able to make the business case for Seguin to be the location of choice for their operation,” Silvas says.
TPS will operate out of an 800,000-square-foot facility currently being constructed on a 180-acre plot on Seguin’s West Side at 1720 W. Kingsbury.
Aside from TPS, Matthies says two suppliers have also located at the site in separate buildings. They are shipping and logistics company, Gray Interplant Systems, and paint operations company, Ranew’s.
Ranew’s will paint the engines and Gray Interplant will pack and ship the engines.
Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) will open its new $170 million, 1 million square-foot factory in Seguin later this year. Caterpillar alone has plans in place to employ 1,400 workers directly at the plant.
Matthies says Seguin has more industrial jobs per capita than any other community in Texas.
To be sure, Seguin is home to a number of industrial companies including CMC Steel-Texas, Alamo Group Inc. (NYSE: ALG), Hexcel, Continental AG (formerly a Motorola plant) and Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN).
“We, in Seguin, are familiar with industrial jobs. This is a very clean industrial company which fits into our plan for keeping Seguin a clean town,” Matthies says.
Matthies says the city of Seguin is pleased to have the new plant and considers it an asset to the community.
“I think they’ll not only be a source of employment for people here, but for the whole region,” she says. “I look forward to them being a wonderful partner within our community.”
