Fortune 200 company bringing 150 manufacturing jobs to Utah

Brice Wallace 

A global manufacturing company will put a facility in Tooele and bring 150 jobs over the next several years to produce batteries for various companies.

The $10 million Jabil Inc. project will be the company’s first in Utah. The Florida-based company has more than 260,000 employees at 100 locations in 30 countries, providing end-market experience, technical and design capabilities, manufacturing know-how, supply chain insights and global product management expertise.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

“We’re thrilled to have this company consider a move here,” Steve Neeleman, chairman of the incentives committee for the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah) board, said before the board voted to approve an incentive for the project.

“A lot of people haven’t really heard of Jabil, even though it’s a Fortune 200 company, because we don’t sell direct to the public,” Bob Hoyt, a senior business manager working in the energy storage sector at Jabil, told the board. “But there’s probably a couple of dozen items within your home or apartment that Jabil had a hand in building, whether it’s in washing machines, TVs, computers — all those type of things, primarily circuit boards.

“The area that we’re focused on within Utah is the energy storage sector, which is a very quickly developing sector. Projections are it will probably triple within the next couple of years, the size. What we’re doing in Salt Lake City there is just the first step. We want to increase that footprint, we want to increase our footprint in Utah, because of the logistics in particular is probably the main reason. But we plan to grow within Salt Lake City. We plan to grow within the next couple of years by two or threefold. We’re excited to come out there. We’re looking for a good partnership with the state of Utah, and we look forward to it.”

Daniel Royal, Go Utah’s director of corporate growth and business development, said Utah will offer the company logistics advantages for serving major western U.S. cities. Utah competed with the Phoenix area for the project.

Utah’s incentive is in the form of a tax rebate of up to $706,217 over seven years, plus an Industrial Assistance Account grant of $200,000 for infrastructure and other related site preparation needs. The project is projected to generate new total wages of nearly $60.9 million over seven years and new state tax revenues of more than $2.3 million during that time.

The new jobs will pay an average of $65,666 and be both skilled and semi-skilled trades plus engineers. The project will provide technical improvements to batteries manufactured by various companies, readying them for various types of uses, installations and specifications.

“Jabil is a global leader in manufacturing,” Dan Hemmert, Go Utah’s executive director, said in a prepared statement. “This project focuses on energy storage, and it will have significant ripple effects in Tooele County and green energy industries. This is a big win for the state, and we hope to see additional Utah expansions from Jabil in the future.”

“The Jabil expansion demonstrates that Utah has the talent and infrastructure to support the fast-growing battery industry,” said Theresa A. Foxley, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “With Jabil’s lead, we foresee other similar projects coming our way. Congratulations to Tooele County, and thanks to (former Go Utah board chairman) Mel Lavitt and other Utah proponents who advocated for Utah with the company.”

Jabil was founded in 1966 in suburban Detroit as a producer and repairer of circuit board assemblies for Control Data Systems, a major mainframe computer manufacturer. The company name comes from the first names of its co-founders, James Golden and Bill Morean.

Jabil’s customers include 300 of the world’s biggest brands, including those in healthcare, packaging, smartphones, cloud equipment, automotive and home appliances.

In the second quarter ended Feb. 28, Jabil reported net income of $222 million, or $1.51 per share, up from $152 million, or 99 cents per share, for the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue in the most recent quarter totaled $7.6 billion, up from $6.8 billion a year earlier.

Go Utah does not provide upfront cash incentives. Each year that Jabil meets the obligations in its contract with the state, it will qualify to receive a portion of the new, additional state taxes the company paid to the state.{/mprestriction}