■ Fuyao plans new warehouse near Moraine plant,
Auto glass manufacturer Fuyao Glass America is planning to build a freestanding distribution center near its Moraine plant.
“We have in our immediate business plan to set up a new distribution center to provide more expeditious supply to our customers in the United States,” Fuyao spokeswoman Lei Shi said Tuesday.
Fuyao plans to add warehousing space on the company’s existing property, to the north side of its existing acreage, said Michael Davis, development director for the city of Moraine.
The Fuyao plant complex is located between Ohio 741 and Kettering Boulevard, north of Stroop Road. The company has 2,300 employees in Moraine and calls itself the largest single-location auto glass manufacturing plant in the world.
The company is already leasing over 300,000 square feet of a remaining piece of a former General Motors assembly plant for warehouse and storage purposes, Davis noted.
Chinese glass producer Fuyao refurbished and built out the former GM auto plant in Moraine beginning in 2015 to supply automaker customers in North America. Strengthening distribution is a need the company has identified in the past, but this is the first time officials have confirmed plans for a new center or building.
Details about the planned building, including number of employees, weren’t immediately available. Lei Shi said the company will make those details available later.
In a recent interview with the Dayton Daily News, Jeff Liu, president of Fuyao Glass America, said the plant needs more people. At full capacity, he thinks the Moraine plant will employ about 3,000 workers, about 700 more than the current workforce.
He said the company will buy an additional five acres for what he called a “new warehouse.”
“It’s better to buy the land now,” he said. “I think in the future we’ll have more difficulty buying the land.”