U-Play to add 88 jobs, makes $20M investment
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 3, 2016 1:46 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- The long-vacant former Helix-Poly/Sonoco building in Mount Olive will soon have a new tenant that will make a $20 million investment and create up to 88 jobs over the next five years.
It will be the first U.S. facility for U-Play, a China-Japan joint venture company that specializes in the contract manufacturing of disposable sanitary products such as adult incontinence products, wet wipes and puppy training pads.
Founded in 2006, the publicly held company is based in China's Anhui Province and employs a total workforce of 310. Its products are exported to 40 countries.
U-Play Corp. will hire management, craftsmen and sales staff. The company's annual payroll impact will add more than $2.75 million to the local economy.
The building is located at 3624 Old Mount Olive Highway just north of town and near the town's industrial park and airport.
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday morning approved an incentive grant of $56,730 to be paid over five years for the project. The approval came shortly after an announcement from Gov. Pat McCrory that the company also will receive a $200,000 One North Carolina grant through the state Department of Commerce.
The county's grant will count as its match for the state grant.
Approval followed a brief public hearing during which there were no comments.
The company is expected to apply for other state incentive grants as well a Building Re-Use Grant that also will require a match from the county.
There are two phases to the project.
Tuesday's board action was for the first phase, investment of $3,750,000 in machinery and equipment and 30 new jobs in 2016-17.
The second phase, with an estimated investment of $15,000,000 in 2019, will require a separate incentive grant at that time, Wayne County Development Alliance Crystal Gettys said.
"We went today just to focus on phase one since it will require two grants," she said.
The grant amount can be adjusted up or down depending on what the actual cost is, she said.
During her presentation to commissioners, Mrs. Gettys said the incentive payments of $11,346 per year will be made over a five-year period once the project is completed.
Under the county policy adopted last year, only tax money paid in by a company is used for the grant it receives, Mrs. Gettys said.
The company pays its property taxes, and the county in turn refunds a portion of those taxes to the company dependent on the company completing its project within two years once under way and creating the promised number of jobs and investment.
Dec. 1 is the effective start date of the project for construction/upgrade of an existing manufacturing facility and the installation of equipment and machinery.
Of the phase one cost of $3.750 million, $2.625 million qualifies for the incentive.
Should the company fail to meet the promised number of jobs, the county may reduce the payment amount of the grant by 5 percent of the county's current average wage for every job shortfall.
"It is a great building," Mrs. Gettys said. "It is like a 140,000-square-foot facility. It sits on 24 acres of land. I have shown it many, many times to projects coming through. So that pretty much takes up all of the buildings that were available (in Mount Olive).
"This is just exciting news. It is a great opportunity. It is a great win for Wayne County. It is a great win for Mount Olive. It puts a really good building back into use and to be revitalized and utilized again."
Mrs. Gettys said she was not part of the negotiations between the invest company that owns the building and U-Play, and that she did not know how much the company had paid for the property.
"This (location) is so they can get closer to their original equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the U.S.," she said. "They chose this area because they felt like they could get to most of the U.S. within a day or two drive -- a 600-mile radius within a reasonable amount of time. So they were very interested in this area."
It also means the company will be able to market its own "Made-In-USA" brand.
"North Carolina is a fantastic place for our business because of its cluster of hygiene raw material suppliers, well-trained workforce, and business-friendly environment," Hancy Cheng, U-Play Corp. CEO, said in a press release. "We want to put together all these advantages to create a manufacturing hub for our company in Wayne County to better serve our customers in the U.S.
"Wayne County is the perfect location for our manufacturing facility in the U.S. It's close to two major interstate highways, I-95 and I-40. We can reach almost half of the U.S. population in a radius of 600 miles from our location in Wayne County."
It found the building by looking at the Development Alliance's website, and had actually looked at the building before contacting her office, she said.
Mrs. Gettys said that is when she got involved and contacted the state project manager with the Economic Partnership of North Carolina and the Department of Commerce. The $56,730 approved by commissioners will be paid over five years based on the phase one investment of $3,750,000 and 30 new jobs. Phase two has an estimated investment of $15,000,000 and will require a separate incentive grant at that time. U-Play will also receive a One NC Grant from the state of North Carolina and will be applying for other grants.