IBC Advanced Alloys plans to invest more than $5 million to build and outfit a 32,000-square-feet copper casting facility on its Franklin property.
The Franklin City Council on Wednesday agreed to create an Economic Revitalization Area on IBC’s property, the first step in a process to consider tax abatements.
IBC, also known as Non Ferrous Products, Inc., is a Franklin-based beryllium and copper advanced alloys manufacturer that serves a variety of industries such as defense, aerospace, automotive, telecommunications and precision manufacturing.
The Franklin facility is IBC’s corporate headquarters and the primary manufacturing plant for its copper alloys division, said Mark Wolma, president of IBC’s copper division. Employees manufacture and distribute a variety of copper alloys as castings and forgings, including beryllium copper, chrome copper and aluminum bronze, he said.
The expansion, set to start this spring, will expand its onsite copper casting capacity to better serve the facility’s forging and machine shop. The new building will be a connecting structure between the two buildings on IBC’s property, bringing the buildings under the same roof, he said.
The company plans to hire 25 new employees with wages ranging from $20.96 to $38.55 an hour, including benefits, according to city documents. The new employees will be brought on over the course of about five years, and will eventually grow the Franklin site to 60 employees, documents show.
The city is glad to see IBC expand its operations in Franklin and commit to bringing in new, high-paying jobs, officials said.
“I appreciate you guys being here in Franklin and wanting to expand here in Franklin as a local business that has been here for quite some time. I think that is part of what we, as a county, try to do — help our local businesses expand,” Mayor Steve Barnett said. “That’s what I appreciate.”
The average wage is more than $10 above the city’s average hourly wage of $19.60, said Dana Monson, the city’s community development specialist.
IBC was founded as Non Ferrous Foundry on Indianapolis’s eastside. It expanded in 1972 to Franklin, and doubled the size of its facility in 1995, Wolma said. Over the years, the company also opened alloy manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts, Missouri and Pennsylvania, he said.
The council approved the establishment of an economic revitalization area unanimously, with just one question from the council about the type of furnace that will be used at the facility.
A public hearing is scheduled Feb. 1, which is also when the council will consider IBC’s requests for a 10-year real property tax abatement and 7-year personal property tax abatement, officials said.
IBC will pay about $556,000 in real property taxes, and save about $448,000 over the 10-year period, according to an estimate based on 2020 tax returns. The company will pay about $59,000 in personal property taxes, and save about $81,000 over the 7-year period, the estimate says.
