Johnson Controls announced Monday that it will expand production at its Wichita plant, adding 337 workers over the next seven years.
The company plans to spend $45 million to $50 million at the York Unitary Products plant at 3110 N. Mead in order to add a new product line.
The plant manufactures residential gas furnaces and air conditioners under its own and other brand names.
The new hires will push the plant's 1,100-person work force to 1,437. That will reinforce the plant's status as the largest non-aircraft manufacturer in Wichita.
The new jobs will pay an average of $12.35 an hour, or $25,688 a year, according to a news release from the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition. That is less than half the average $54,808 annual manufacturing wage in the Wichita metro area.
The company received forgivable loans, employee training and tax credits from the city of Wichita, Sedgwick County and the Kansas Department of Commerce.
The Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition coordinated the deal. The coalition is the area's main economic development group.
Johnson Controls must create the promised new jobs in order to avoid repaying the government incentives.
Neither company officials nor local officials could be reached for comment Monday.
The move by Johnson Controls not only provides more jobs, it is a kind of insurance, said Steve Kelly, business development director for the state.
"If you've got a plant that just got a $50 million investment vs. a plant with older machinery," Kelly said, "when there's a hiccup, it just stands to reason that plant with the newer technology has a better chance to weather the storm."
Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls bought York International in August 2005 for $2.4 billion, expanding its presence in building controls and systems. The Unitary Products division gave Johnson Controls a presence in the residential market that it didn't have before.
The North America Unitary Products division, of which the Wichita plant is the largest piece, had $853 million in sales and $71 million in operating profit in the year ending Sept. 30, according to the company's annual statement.
Johnson Controls sees the York plant continuing to grow, with sales as much as doubling in the next few years, plant officials have said.
The plant has seen strong growth over the last five years from the unprecedented boom in new housing. The plant specializes in building air conditioners for new homes.
In the past two years, the company added a line of replacement residential air conditioners, opening a new market. As a result, the company's sales have remained stable even as the residential housing market has cooled.
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