HUNTINGDON COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — The acting secretary for Community and Economic Development paid a visit to Huntingdon County, Thursday morning. There, he highlighted Gov. Tom Wolf's administration's investment into the expansion of a cabinet factory.
If you drive through Huntingdon County, it's miles upon miles of farmland. But this manufacturing plant in Mount Union is getting a big boost from the state, paving the way for hundreds of new jobs.
"We're announcing a significant investment north of $23 million here in this facility," Cabinetworks Group CEO John Barkhouse told 6 News, "to grow the workforce and really transition this facility from a cabinet components plant into a full assembly plant."
"These are great jobs," Sec. Neil Weaver said. "They're long-term jobs, family-sustaining, and a lot of times they're from generation to generation."
All in all, this expansion will create 325 new jobs for heavily agrarian Huntingdon County. Barkhouse says the Wolf Administration's investment here will ripple across the country.
"This is kind of our first phase here in Pennsylvania. We have a second facility that's here in Pennsylvania and Thompsontown also going through a similar transformation. So, growing across the United States, in all of our facilities...is a core focus. A lot of that activity kicked off here in the State of Pennsylvania."
As a member of wolf's cabinet, Weaver was — coincidentally — shown how cabinets are made.
"So, manufacturing's the backbone of Pennsylvania, always has been and all over — in every corner of the state," Weaver told 6 News. "And this is continuing to do that."
"We're basically taking the entire plant down from making components and then investing heavily in a completely new milling room and all new assembly assets," Barkhouse explained. "So, essentially, everything inside the frame of the building — and including the back wall of the building to open it up for trucks — is gonna be new."
So far, Barkhouse reports positive results for filling those new jobs, with plans to get high school and community college students interested in manufacturing.
"We're investing heavily in training and development, but attracting people to come to Cabinet Works...is going remarkably well, better than what I would say [for] most of our facilities," he observed.
He tells us it's been "an interesting few years" with demand for cabinets, saying it's created "a set of circumstances both good and bad."
"The good part being, you know, with people more at home, it did definitely drive demand," said the CEO.
However, "we see demand kind of moderating now, as people are back to work."
"It's a chance to catch our breath and to get caught up on some of these investments to position us for the next 5, 10, 15 years," he emphasized. "And this is one step in that journey."
But what more does the state government need to do in the long term for manufacturing to thrive?
"We need to continue to make the investments and big investments in communities all across the state," replied Weaver. "We have the ability to do that, and I think we're gonna continue to do that."
All that said, it'll be fascinating to see how these new jobs will transform the surrounding community.
ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRfqMGiwMRmoKeulajBqrrGZqSipJyevK%2B%2FjKKlraddncKvwMinnp2nnmKwsHnFmpqtp6KueqS%2BxJqroqaXYrW2usOrnJ2rXaSzbrbOm6o%3D