Politics & Government

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon Announces Zoltek Expansion in St. Peters

The Missouri Governor was on hand at the St. Peters located of Zoltek to announce that the carbon fiber manufacturer will be expanding local operations and create 100-plus new jobs.

Zoltek in October of 2011 and added 40 new jobs. On Wednesday, with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon at the facility, Zoltek announced it was expanding and adding new jobs.

Zoltek is investing $15-million in a new research and manufacturing facility in St. Peters. With the new facility Zoltek is adding new jobs to its St. Peters location at 27 Guenther Boulevard. After already adding 40-plus jobs, Zoltek intends to bring its workforce to 155 employees with the new addition.

"I want to, on behalf of six million Missourians, thank Zoltek for increasing its investment in the St. Louis area and Missouri," Nixon said. "[I want to] congratulate St. Peters and the surrounding areas for these new jobs. Your success is a great example for others to follow."

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Nixon praised Zoltek for the progress it has made since it started in 1988. The commercial carbon fiber company keeps growing its stature and has become what Nixon called "another Missouri manufacturing success story."

"Zoltek is now a global leader in the production of carbon fiber and the expansion into St. Peters is the latest example of its commercialization strategy at work," Nixon said.

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To help Zoltek expand, Missouri authorized an economic incentive package worth $3.3 million, according a release from Nixon's staff. The incentive package includes $1.5 million in Missouri BUILD and $1.7 million in Missouri Quality Jobs program tax credits, which the company can redeem provided it meets the requirements of each program. The state has also authorized $75,000 in Customized Training funding.

"This is obviously excellent news for the region and the state of Missouri," Nixon said. "I'm just glad my administration could help make this happen with a package of incentives."

Nixon was joined by Zsolt Rumy,  Mayor and District 18 Missouri State Representative Anne Zerr. The group took a tour of the recently-renovated facility in St. Peters. After taking a tour, Pagano was beaming over the good news for the city. 

"I'm just proud that the city of St. Peters is doing what we said before: jobs, jobs jobs," Pagano said. 

Pagano said that not only is Zoltek adding jobs, it's adding top-shelf jobs. 

"It means more jobs, as promised," Pagano said. "Quality jobs. These are not every-day jobs. These are well-paying with benefits."

Pagano said he had developed a relationship with Zoltek in the process of bringing the business to St. Peters. He said that having a business of Zoltek's calibre in the city is a big deal—not only for the jobs it's bringing but because of what Zoltek does. 

"I'm so proud of this company," Pagano said. "You're hearing negativity about losing jobs overseas, in return, this company is selling its products to China."

Zoltek makes a variety of carbon fiber products, but lately business has been booming thanks to wind power. Many of the carbon fiber products produced by Zoltek have been turned into wind blades for wind energy farms. The corporations has headquarters in Maryland Heights, but has sites in Utah, Texas, Mexico, Hungary, India, China and Japan. Now the company has expanded to St. Peters. 


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