BSH Home Appliances will invest more than $11 million to expand its New Bern facility, adding 199 jobs in Craven County.
BSH, the home appliance division of the Munich-based Bosch Group, with its North American headquarters in California, has been in New Bern since 1997. The company manufactures appliances offered under the Bosch, Thermador and Gaggenau brands. This investment will help BSH create a hub for cooking and dishwashing research, innovation and manufacturing, along with distribution and customer support for the United States.
“BSH’s manufacturing operation has called North Carolina home for many years, and this expansion is reflective of a valued relationship that’s deepening as we move forward,” said Darcy Clarkson, CEO of BSH Region North America. “New Bern’s importance to BSH is growing, and this investment is one of several new developments that will increase our footprint, create jobs and drive innovation for the company as we look to the future, with North America designated as a growth region for BSH.”
“We’ve been proud members of the New Bern community for over 25 years, and we look forward to further strengthening our contributions to the city and region with this important expansion,” added Andy MacLaren, Chief Technology Officer of BSH Region North America.
Wages for the new positions will average $60,779 annually, exceeding Craven County’s average of $48,770. The company already has about 1,500 employees in New Bern. The company has more than 57,000 employees in total and 39 global production sites.
BSH expects to produce more than 1 million dishwashers (Bosch and Thermador brands) in New Bern this year. In 2024, BSH produced more than 100,000 cooking products in New Bern, which includes single built-in ovens, double built-in and combo wall ovens, slide-in ranges (electric, gas and induction), gas cooktops, warming drawers and steam and convection ovens (Primarily Bosch and Thermador brands) – and more.
A performance-based grant of $500,000 from the One North Carolina Fund will help the company’s expansion in North Carolina. Companies must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. All OneNC grants require matching participation from local governments.
An unnamed manufacturing company is asking Guilford County for incentives totaling almost $76 million, just days before airline startup JetZero may select Piedmont Triad International (PTI) Airport for a 10,000-plus employee assembly factory.
The county’s Board of Commissioners will consider granting $75.9 million in economic development incentives during a special meeting Thursday, June 12.
Long Beach, California-based JetZero may announce its site selection later this month, possibly taking advantage of the global aviation audience during the International Paris Air Show scheduled for June 16-22.
Three weeks ago, the company confirmed it’s considering PTI as one of three U.S. finalists for producing its revolutionary “all wing” passenger airplane. In an email earlier today, JetZero spokeswoman Jenny Dervin declined to say whether the company is seeking county incentives.
Offering local and state incentives is customary, if not practically mandatory, in multistate competition for economic development trophies. This latest project is shaping up to be a whopper, compared with incentives offered to big prospects that selected Guilford County.
The company is asking Guilford County for more than six times the $12.1 million it granted Boom Supersonic for its $450 million assembly factory for its faster-than- the-speed-of-sound passenger jet. The company is equipping and preparing to hire for the facility at PTI.
The unnamed company is expected to be identified during next week’s meeting, according to the county’s legal notice on May 30. While looking elsewhere in the U.S., the company “anticipates creating new jobs in Guilford County over the life of the project and anticipates adding significant taxable property to the tax base,’’ the notice said.
The company is also requesting other local and state incentives before deciding where to locate, according to the notice. It added “the local approval of incentives does not commit the company to locate in North Carolina.’’
At full run rate, the JetZero factory will produce about 20 airplanes a month and would employ more than 10,000 people, Dervin said in an earlier email.
Employment will grow over the five years until the facility is running at full speed. The plane’s all-wing design refers to the blending of the wings and the body, creating a broader appearance that resembles the flat body of the stingray fish. The design allows the entire airplane to produce lift and reduce drag, resulting in up to 50% better fuel efficiency, according to Dervin.
It will carry about 250 passengers with a range of 5,000 nautical miles. It’s aimed at carriers looking to add planes for the “un-served middle market between single-aisle workhorses and larger twin-aisle airplanes,” Dervin said.