Muskegon Chronicle

Friday, December 02, 2005
By Robert C. Burns

ADAC Plastics Inc. continues to pour money into its Muskegon manufacturing operations.

The Grand Rapids-based company is investing nearly $700,000 in its Keating Avenue plant, most of which will be used to pay for new equipment. The company makes engineered plastic parts for the automotive industry, primarily door handles and other "vehicle access components."

The new equipment, to be used for plastic handles for Honda Civics, is expected to add 20 jobs to the company's work force of 481 employees.

Under the state's Act 198, a law designed to encourage business expansion, ADAC has applied for and received an exemption amounting to half of the $17,846 the new investment will generate in property taxes.

The city of Muskegon, which granted the exemption last week, will still receive nearly $2,000 annually in property taxes, plus an estimated $6,240 in new income taxes generated by the added employment.

The latest abatement will run for nine years on a personal property investment of $666,454, and 12 years on real property investment totaling $33,409.

In March 2003, the city granted ADAC a nine-year property tax break on $2.8 million in new machinery and equipment.

ADAC started its Muskegon operation at 2050 Port City Boulevard in 1990. It underwent an expansion there in 1993, and in 1997 moved part of its operations into a former warehouse at 1801 Keating.

Ken James, the city's affirmative action director, said ADAC has diversified its work force in keeping with an affirmative action policy on file with his office. Nearly one-third of its local employees are minorities, and more than 60 percent are female.