HOW TO GO
What: Auto supplier UGN Inc. is hosting a job fair on site May 30
When: The job fair is planned for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 30
Where: At UGN's new manufacturing plant in the business park Park North at Monroe, located on Gateway Boulevard in Monroe
Why: UGN is hiring a total approximately 150 workers and will ramp up production over the summer until its fully staffed by September
For more information: Go online to www.ugn.com
Auto supplier UGN Inc. is planning a hiring push as it ramps up operations at one of the region’s newest manufacturing plants.
Plans are to go from test and limited production lines to full production by September, said UGN’s President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Anthony, while in Cincinnati on May 5 to accept a Growth Award for the project from private development group REDI Cincinnati.
Illinois-based UGN has completed construction on the 232,000-square-foot, $50 million auto parts plant at the Warren County business park Park North at Monroe — near the intersection of Interstate 75 and Ohio 63 — to meet an increased need for new carpet and underfloor technologies. These products are being made in the United States for the first time and will be found in Japanese-produced automobiles beginning this year, according to UGN’s website.
The first 14 hourly employees of a total 150 people to be hired started work last week at the auto plant, Anthony said. The ranks of management are also being filled, he said.
Next, a job fair has been scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 30, at the site on Gateway Boulevard in Monroe, said Chip Zanzinger, human resource manager for UGN in Monroe.
Fifty-five jobs need filled no later than June 16, and another 55 employees are needed on the job by July 28, Zanzinger said. Starting pay for experienced production operators, the majority of positions available, is $13 an hour with full benefits, he said.
Walk-in applications are accepted weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Job applicants can also email cover letter and resume information to monroejobs@ugnauto.com.
Find more information online at the company’s website, www.ugn.com.
“We’re looking for production operators, quality technicians, material handlers,” Zanzinger said. “If they haven’t heard a response and they submitted an application, they can come anytime, Monday through Friday, or come to the job fair. We’re getting so many (applications) we can’t see them all.”
UGN is opening the Monroe plant to supply Honda, but has the ability to grow the plant from about 232,000-square-feet of space to about 400,000 in the future, Anthony said. Expectations are to also supply automakers Toyota and Subaru in coming years from the new Southwest Ohio facility, he said.
“Most of our plants are at capacity and also this would be the plant we would expand when future business is awarded, so it’s our intention to grow this facility,” he said.
The new version of the Honda Civic will be the first car in North America to have UGN’s technology for the underfloor module and carpet system, he said.
“It’s the materials used and the benefit to the vehicle. It helps the aerodynamics… so when the car’s travelling down the road, it’s more efficient,” he explained.
The business park where UGN is opening, Park North at Monroe, is being developed by IDI Gazeley, which bought the property in sheriff’s sale in 2012.
Other park tenants include Cornerstone Services Inc., which operates retail websites, catalogs and outlet stores for home goods. Cornerstone signed a lease in 2013 to open a new distribution center in Monroe.
Serta Simmons Bedding confirmed in February it signed a lease for a new 430,000-square-foot facility at Park North to open a new bedding manufacturing facility. Plans are to open the new site by the end of the year, according to the company. At that time, about 182 existing employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate to Monroe from Forest Park. Expansion plans in Warren County have the potential to create an additional 100 new jobs over the next three years.
“One of Monroe’s strongest assets is its highly skilled workforce,” said Jennifer Patterson, assistant to the city manager for Monroe, in an email. “UGN’s substantial investment in Monroe demonstrates their belief our workforce has the ability to help their business grow, and Serta Simmons Bedding’s recent announcement of a new Monroe facility further supports this. “
Monroe is the location of UGN’s seventh facility.
UGN was one of five recipients of Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI) Cincinnati’s annual Growth Awards, recognizing companies investing in the region in significant ways and contributing to the strong, upward trajectory of Greater Cincinnati’s overall economic performance.
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