General Machine of Anderson announced last week that it will expand its Anderson County operations with an $800,000 expansion. General Machine is a fabricating and manufacturing operation with about 50 employees.
Phase one of the two-phase project was construction of a 4,000-square-foot assembly area, which has been completed. Phase two will be construction of a 12,000-square-foot fabricating facility. That building and the entire expansion are scheduled for completion by November 2013.
“We hope to have the entire project complete by this time next year,” said Bruce Cannon, marketing director.
The company is also hiring, looking primarily for operating technicians and CNC operators. Cannon said some hiring has occurred since the company started working with the Anderson Office of Economic development last fall.
Mike Ertzberger, president, said, “We thank Burris Nelson and his staff for their work in helping local industries take advantage of incentives like this. Even more so, we thank all of our faithful customers who truly are making our growth and expansion a reality.”
Most of General Machine’s clients are in the automotive and household appliance industries. The current growth is possible because the company continued to flourish as the recession negatively affected other companies, Ertzberger says. Over the past five years, it has more than doubled its facilities and number of employees, he said. He also praised the county’s economic development office.
Cannon said that while other companies were forced to make do with the machinery they had, they looked to companies like General Machine for repair and maintenance. As a result, this will be General Machine’s third expansion since the recession began.
“We don’t have anything on the drawing board right now, but if the market continues to expand like it has in the last two or three years for us, that could change altogether,” he said.
General Machine serves a long list of local, national and international companies in textiles, automotive, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, plastics, pipelines, appliances, chemicals, farming, hardware and household products.
