A Canadian company could begin hiring as early as this spring at a new manufacturing facility in St. Johnsbury.
Composite BHS, which designs and manufacturers materials for the aeronautics and transportation industries, will move into an existing building at the St. Johnsbury-Lyndonville Industrial Park. Eventually it plans to expand to employ 75 workers in St. Johnsbury.
David David Snedeker, executive director of the Northeastern Vermont Development Association, says 60 people currently work at the Composite BHS Sherbrooke, Quebec headquarters, so the St. Johnsbury expansion is significant for the company.
Snedeker says proximity to Sherbrooke was one factor in the company’s decision, in addition to the availability of a building.
“The state Agency of Commerce, my organization and some other organizations, including St. Johnsbury officials were all actively working together for a period of months to attract this company to St. Johnsbury with the understanding that we were competing against a couple of other states in New England,” Snedeker says.
He says New Hampshire and New York were also in talks with the company.
Composites BHS will receive nearly $900,000 from the Vermont Enterprise Fund and the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive program. It will also receive funding through the Vermont Training program.
