McNally Confirms VAM USA Plans $81M Threading Mill
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- City officials confirmed this morning that VAM USA LLC will move forward with an $81.6 million pipe threading mill in Youngstown.
Construction on the mill will begin immediately on the project, which is expected to create about 80 jobs, Mayor John McNally told reporters just prior to this morning’s Board of Control meeting. The board, which consists of McNally, Finance Director David Bozanich and Law Director Martin Hume, approved an enterprise zone agreement with VAM to support the project and has approved other incentives.
VAM is a joint venture of Vallourec Star, Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metals. VAM last year purchased the former Genmark Steel building and plans to add 69,000 square feet on property it purchased form the city. McNally said the company, which was aware the city planned to make the announcement, was expected to release a statement of its own later today.
“We’re excited about continuing to help [Vallourec] and we think they’ve been a great corporate citizen in terms of the amount of the investment they’ve brought in, the new jobs, and we’re going to make sure we continue to create an environment where they want to spend more money in Youngstown,” Bozanich said.
VAM USA announced in November 2011 at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber's Youngstown Ohio Utica and Natural Gas, or YOUNG, conference that it intended to construct a threading operation near its now-finished pipe mill.
A threading mill produces connections that join pipe used in oil and gas exploration in across the country. VAM's headquarters is in Houston, where it operates three plants. The company also operates manufacturing facilities in Mexico and Canada.
In confirming VAM's investment, the mayor's office issued a statement.
"We extend our thanks to Jobs Ohio and the governor’s economic development staff, Tom Humphries from the Regional Chamber, Congressman Tim Ryan who secured funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the original V&M project, and Youngstown City Council who have supported this project from the inception," McNally said.
Ryan conducted a conference call at noon today with reporters, hailing VAM's investment as signal to global markets about the value of doing business in the Mahoning Valley.
"This expansion follows an initial $20 million in federal stimulus money that led to the public-private partnership and the building of the Vallourec mill. These investments don’t happen by accident; they are the result of hard work by people at all levels of government and private industry," Ryan said.
“This is yet another example of companies looking at the Mahoning Valley and finding it to be a perfect place to build and grow their businesses. In addition, this expansion shows the immense support President Obama is extending to American businesses by placing duties on imported steel pipe, which has resulted in increased investments and jobs creation for American workers.”
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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