Zemco Tool & Die plans to triple its work forcev

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A manufacturer plans to nearly triple its work force in northern Dauphin County, where two goods producers have laid off masses of people within the past year.
Zemco Tool & Die hopes to increase its work force from 90 to 250 within two years, said John Zemaitis, the company’s owner and president.
The business is trying to close a deal for a new contract that would necessitate the new jobs, he said. Under the contract, the manufacturer would make a new type of product, he said.
He declined to elaborate because negotiations continue.
Zemco is based in Williams Township, Dauphin County. It custom designs circuits, progressive dies, injection molds and automated assembly equipment.
The company intends to invest about
$5 million of its own money into its expansion project, Zemaitis said.
In addition, the company plans to ask the state government for $1 million to
$2 million, he said. The manufacturer would use that money for work-force
development training and new equipment, he said.
Zemco is discussing its request for state money with the Governor’s Action Team, said Dan Robinson, director of the Dauphin County Department of Community & Economic Development. The team helps companies find money for economic development projects in Pennsylvania.
Representatives of the governor’s team could not be reached for comment.
If Zemco follows through on its expansion plan, it would buck the trend of the shrinking manufacturing industry.
Goods producers are bleeding jobs nationwide, statewide and across the
midstate, including in northern Dauphin County.
Late last year, Nordic Gear closed two manufacturing plants in Central Pennsylvania – one in Millersburg, Dauphin County, the other in Newport, Perry County – and laid off all of its roughly 120 workers at those operations. The Millersburg plant employed about 85 people. The business makes fleece clothing, including battery-heated socks.
In March, Lebro Shirt Manufacturing Co. began laying off all of its 87 workers at its plant in Lykens, Dauphin County. The shirt maker intends to shutter its plant, as well.
Around the same time that Nordic Gear closed its two plants, Zemco bought another plant to expand. Zemco paid $1 to the Dauphin County Department of Community & Economic Development for an old Tyco International Ltd. plant in Williams Township.
Under the agreement, Tyco donated its 60,000-square-foot building to Dauphin County. The county then sold the idle factory to Zemco, with the agreement that the business would use the plant to retain and create jobs in the county. Tyco closed the plant on West Broad Street soon after buying AMP Inc. in 1999.
Bermuda-based Tyco closed many Central Pennsylvania plants that AMP had operated. Tyco’s electronics division, Tyco Electronics Corp., is based in Lower Swatara Township, Dauphin County.