Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
May 25, 2016 02:00 AM

Detroit scores Flex-N-Gate plant with help from NFL team owners

John Irwin
Automotive News
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Flex-N-Gate Corp.
    The new Flex-N-Gate Corp. plant will include injection molding, although the company has not disclosed any details.

    Executives from two NFL football franchises — Bill Ford of the Detroit Lions and Shahid Khan of the Jacksonville Jaguars — played key roles in bringing a top-tier auto parts plant to Detroit.

    Flex-N-Gate Corp. said May 25 it will invest $95 million in a facility on a vacant, 30-acre site in Detroit that will supply Ford Motor Co. Flex-N-Gate did not disclose which parts it will produce for the automaker.

    The company makes a variety of body and chassis structural assemblies, full bumper and fascia systems, brackets and other products for automakers. The Detroit facility will include plastic injection molding operations, the scope of which is yet to be determined, a spokesman said.

    The Urbana, Ill., company, which received a $3.5 million performance-based state grant for the project, said the plant will create up to 650 jobs over three years.

    Khan, Flex-N-Gate's owner, said Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford was the “No. 1 guy” in facilitating the move. Ford is also vice chairman of the Lions, owned by the Ford family.

    “I think it started with him,” Khan said following a news conference in Detroit.

    Phil Nussel/Automotive News

    Flex-N-Gate owner Shahid Khan, left, and Detroit Mayor Michael Duggan.

    Khan, who has owned the Jaguars since 2011 and also owns a European soccer franchise, said Ford's push for a Detroit Flex-N-Gate plant showed the “power of football.”

    Ford told Khan he “wants some real development, [to] create some jobs,” Khan said. “Ford Motor Co. is not a charitable institution. Let's not confuse that. They want to do the right thing for their shareholders and stakeholders. But it's like, you could do it and still serve everybody and create good jobs and economic progress in the process.”

    Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan also credited Bill Ford for his role in bringing Flex-N-Gate to the city.

    “Bill Ford intervened on this personally,” Duggan said. “You had the advantage of a couple owners of NFL teams, I think, talking to each other. … It was Ford who came forward first to our team last December and said, ‘I think there's a chance to get a Flex-N-Gate plant in Detroit.'”

    Duggan also thanked UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles for pushing the project “from the beginning.” It was not immediately clear what specific role Settles or the UAW had in pushing the project.

    It is not yet known whether the UAW will pursue unionization at the Flex-N-Gate facility. The union has tried over the years to organize various Flex-N-Gate operations, but with little success. Settles was not seen at today's announcement, and the UAW so far has not commented on the project.

    “Those are decisions, really, our employees have to make,” Khan said. “It will be up to them, whatever they choose, and it's our duty, obviously, to respect that.”

    Khan said the plant would offer wages, including benefits, in the mid- to high $20 per hour range.

    “We expect to have good-paying jobs in this town, and the locals will decide for themselves what to do,” Duggan said.

    Duggan said the city has been in talks with the Detroit 3 automakers and major Tier 1 suppliers about how to bring suppliers into the city. Detroit and other American municipalities have been competing for manufacturing jobs with Mexico, where low wage costs make the country more attractive to some companies.

    “We've talked to most of the major Tier 1 suppliers in southeastern Michigan, and we're just looking at what parts are coming next, what plants are coming next and where the opportunities are,” Duggan said. “And we just want to say, ‘If you've got a choice between Juarez and Detroit, we've got transportation advantages, and we've got some other advantages. They may have the labor wage advantage, but can we make the overall package competitive?'”

    The Michigan Strategic Fund on May 24 approved the $3.5 million grant for the project to help the company with brownfield development costs. Flex-N-Gate will remediate the brownfield site, which will cost $1.3 million, and will qualify for a tax credit. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. will apply for a property tax reimbursement. Building on a brownfield site is costlier a more costly procedure than building on a greenfield site or a site with existing buildings, according to an MEDC memo.

    MEDC and the city will recommend approval of a Renaissance Zone for the new operation.

    Flex-N-Gate and its subsidiary Ventra, a plastic bumper fascia specialist, have 11 plants and one research center in Michigan. The company has 48 manufacturing and nine product development and engineering facilities throughout the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, China and Spain.

    Flex-N-Gate ranks No. 46 on Automotive News' list of the top 100 global parts suppliers, with automotive parts sales of $5.1 billion in 2014.

    The news might make the Detroit Lions' Nov. 20 game this fall a little more interesting. The team is hosting the Jaguars at Ford Field in Detroit. There was no word on whether Khan will be invited to watch the game with the Fords.

    Kerri Jansen of Plastics News, and Crain's Detroit Business, contributed to this report.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Georgia home to new PET chemical recycling plant
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified