Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and other city officials Thursday celebrated the opening of a new factory on Jacksonville’s Westside. The Hans-Mill garbage can company plans to create more than 50 local jobs, said CEO James Han.
At its ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday, lineworkers were managing robots making stainless steel trash cans in the 120,000 square foot facility. Mayor Lenny Curry was there to welcome the company.
“This is a big deal for Jacksonville. A new investment in manufacturing of this magnitude with this technology, creating these kind of jobs,” Curry said. “You know the private sector is really what makes things go round and round and we continue to roll here in Jacksonville.”
Wal-Mart held a manufacturing summit a few years ago and encouraged its suppliers to make more products in the United States. Hans-Mill is one of the companies that followed through, relocating a factory from China to Jacksonville — it’s the company’s first facility in the U.S.
Hans-Mill received a $200,000 city grant with the requirement of creating 23 new full-time jobs at an average salary of $30,000, within a year and a half. It already has, and plans to double that number, Han said.
The trash can company is about start mass production in July. Han said he plans to move more of his factories to the U.S.
Walmart’s goal is to buy an additional $250 billion in products supporting American jobs over a 10-year span that began in 2013.
Reporter Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at @lindskilbride.
