Emily Patrick

epatrick@citizen-times.com

Baldor Electric Company will add 41 jobs and $4.2 million in new facilities and equipment to its Weaverville plant, the maker of industrial electric motors and mechanical power transmission products announced Friday.

The Arkansas-headquartered company is restructuring its manufacturing facilities, so the work coming to Buncombe represents consolidation from Canada, according to a press release it released jointly with the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County and the Buncombe County Commissioners.

The move will bring the mechanical power transmission components Baldor manufactures closer to its customers, the release continued. The Asheville plant makes parts for the Baldor-Dodge brand name.

The plant already employs 140 people, according to the release.

“The strategic move speaks to our company’s excellent history in this area providing quality jobs for people in Western North Carolina," said Dale Spivey, manager of Baldor's Asheville plant, in the release. "This success is attributed to taking excellent care of our customers through our employees’ hard work and dedication to advanced manufacturing."

In recent years, the Asheville area's manufacturing sector has grown.

In 2014, Buncombe County's manufacturing jobs increased by 3 percent, more than double the state and national figures, and preliminary numbers from 2015 indicate Buncombe's manufacturing job gains could be as high as 8.8 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Baldor’s expansion marks another milestone in Buncombe County’s growth of its robust manufacturing sector," said Taylor Foss, EDC chair and senior vice-president of organizational transformation at Mission Health. "(This) exciting news reinforces Asheville’s reputation as a nationally competitive leader in advanced manufacturing, particularly in improving efficiency and sustainability,."