Photo by Melissa Hillier via Wikimedia Commons
Flex-N-Gate, a top global auto supplier owned by a Pakistan-born entrepreneur, is setting up a $95 million manufacturing facility in Detroit that will create up to 700 new jobs over the next three years – a venture that will go well with President Trump’s avowed policy of bringing back jobs to America.
Seen as the largest investment in the city by an auto supplier in over 20 years, the 350,000 square feet facility is expected to become operational in about a year.
“I have always believed that the embodiment of the American Dream is in manufacturing, and nowhere is that dream becoming more real and attainable for workers and families today than in the U.S. auto indorustry,” said Mr. Shahid Khan, the Lahore-born owner of Flex-N-Gate which, according to Forbes, posted nearly $6 billion in sales in 2016.
With just $500 in his pocket, Khan landed in the United States at the age of 16, beginning his new life as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois while working as dishwasher at night to meet his expenses, according to the Forbes magazine.
Khan’s impressive rise to a successful businessman to become the owner of one of America’s leading auto suppliers is attributed to a revolutionary one-piece truck bumper he designed in the 60s. Flex-N-Gate today has 62 plants in the U.S, Brazil, Mexico, China and Spain, employing about 13,000 people.
Khan also has a niche for supports and bought the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 and the Fulham football club a year later.
Mr. Khan’s performed the ground-breaking of his new manufacturing facility on April 25, along with the city Mayor Mike Duggan and local state official and community leaders. “Today’s groundbreaking is a day for celebration but the best days and years for Flex-N-Gate and the City of Detroit are still to come,” Mr. Khan said.
The new facility will supply spare parts to Ford Motor Company.
Photo courtesy Detroit Mayor’s Office
The new plant will hire more than half of its construction force from within the city, known as the birthplace of U.S. automakers. Flex-N-Gate will hold job fairs for recruitment and most of the hiring is likely around mid-2018 when the facility is expected to become functional.
“Shad Khan has made a strong commitment to hiring Detroiters and use Detroit-based contractors and is committed to using this project and this new facility to provide employment opportunities to as many Detroiters as possible. They have been a great community partner,” Mayor Mike Duggan said.
Automakers and auto suppliers made $16 billion investment into Michigan between 2009 and the second quarter of 2015, according to the Center for Automotive Research, and some 175, 000 manufacturing jobs have been created since 2009 through the end of 2016.
