A company specializing in the production of extruded aluminum automotive components has announced plans to set up a new manufacturing facility on the east side of Flagstaff.
Based in Ludington, Michigan, UACJ Automotive Whitehall Industries says it wants to open a new location in Arizona in order to be closer to its electric vehicle customer base.
The company, launched in 1974 as Whitehall Industries and originally centering on making components for the copying and printing industry, was purchased 5 years ago by the Tokyo-based UACJ Corporation.
At the time of the purchase, Whitehall Industries was listed as both a Tier 1 and Tier 2 aluminum components supplier for the automotive industry.
Plans in Flagstaff call for the company to repurpose a former Walgreens distribution center, just off East Industrial Drive.
Walgreens ceased its operations at the roughly 400,000 square foot building in 2014.
UAJC Automotive Whitehall Industries, which describes itself as a fabrication company, is expected to spend upwards of $60 million converting the former Walgreens site, with work expected to begin later this spring.
The company currently operates manufacturing plants in Paducah, Kentucky and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; as well as at its home base in Michigan.
In a statement, David Cooper, chief operating officer and president of UAJC Automotive Whitehall Industries, said the company additionally decided to set up operations in Flagstaff because of the existence of an “ease of transportation, and an already well-established manufacturing sector within the community.”
By Garry Boulard
