Detroit Manufacturing Systems LLC received $8 million in funding to expand contracts in Detroit and purchase equipment for its soon-to-open plant in Toledo.
Baton Rouge, La.-based Stonehenge Capital Co. provided the investment through the federal New Markets Tax Credit Program and financed by J.P. Morgan Chase. The federal program administered by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund at the U.S. Treasury is designed to provide critical financing to businesses in rural and urban communities that typically lack access to capital.
Detroit-based DMS plans to use the funds to buy new equipment, as well as help retain 130 jobs in Detroit and create more than 135 new jobs in Toledo plant, Stonehenge said in a news release.
DMS, a joint venture between Andra Rush's Rush Group and the subsidiary of French supplier Faurecia SA, plans to open a 102,000-square-foot plant in Toledo.
DMS has in-house injection molding, listing 16 presses on its corporate website, and says it is targeting growth into compression molding and thermoforming in addition to its assembly of interior modules.
DMS has declined to identify which automaker it would be supporting from the plant, but FCA US LLC's Toledo Assembly Complex is just three miles away. The DMS plant is expected to assemble interior parts and offer jobs with full medical benefits, an average annual wage of $41,000 and a retirement plan.
"The New Markets Tax Credit is a vital part of our success, enhancing our ability to achieve our mission to create sustainable job opportunities in underrepresented communities for many years to come," DMS CEO Andra Rush said in a release. "It has helped facilitate our company's drive to create high-quality products for our customers at competitive pricing and profitability, which creates a winning environment for all."
DMS was formed in 2012 after Faurecia acquired a $1.1 billion book of interiors business from the former Visteon Corp. plant in Saline, Mich., from Ford Motor Co. Faurecia and Rush created DMS to take on some of that interior work.
In Detroit, DMS supplies cockpits, instrument and door panels and center consoles to a dozen Ford programs including the F-150 pickup, Expedition, Explorer, Focus, Mustang and Taurus.
