Fairfield Castings (Fairfield, Iowa) has been bought and renamed Faircast Inc. In July, the AFS Corporate Member Faircast received $855,000 from the Iowa Economic Development Authority.
The award included $600,000 in direct financial assistance as well as $255,000 in investment tax credits, which was granted through the High Quality Jobs program.
Per a news release, The High Quality Jobs program “provides assistance to companies creating new jobs and investing in equipment or facilities in Iowa.” Faircast recently created 89 jobs at the foundry and plans to make a capital investment totaling $3.2 million.
“This award will help us catch up with maintenance items that have been neglected,” said Roger Vorhies, President of Faircast Inc., according to a news release. “As we focus on stabilizing the foundry, we also are setting our sights on growing the company back to its previous levels. This assistance will be essential to making that happen.”
The facility laid off almost all of its 221 employees in late June when the previous owner entered foreclosure. Some assets were purchased in July by Faircast, and production restarted in July.
“We are proud to support the Faircast Inc. foundry project in Fairfield,” said Debi Durham, director of the IEDA, according to a news release. “The board understands the importance of supporting local companies and giving them the tools they need to keep operations in the state. Keeping this foundry in Iowa so that it can continue to provide good jobs is important to Iowa’s economy.”