A wave of new manufacturing projects announced in the past few weeks shows that companies in the U.S. are going ahead with capital investment. Companies that make heavy equipment, advanced electronics, automation, and industrial components are putting about $1 billion into manufacturing expansions with new buildings and expansions.
Manufacturers are starting to build big plants in North Carolina, Texas, Idaho, and Wisconsin under the idea of $1 billion into manufacturing expansions. These plants are expected to create thousands of jobs and bring production back to the US or increase it.
Two U.S. facilities by John Deere
Deere & Co. said it would build two new buildings – a $70 million excavator factory in Kernersville, North Carolina, and a distribution center near Hebron, Indiana.
The company’s press release says that the Indiana distribution center will create about 150 jobs and improve parts logistics across the country. The North Carolina plant will hire more than 150 people and take over making next-generation excavators that were previously made in Japan. This will move that production to the U.S. The excavator factory is part of Deere’s larger plan to put $20 billion into U.S. manufacturing over the next ten years, the company said.
Echodyne expands its Radar Manufacturing in Washington
Echodyne, a company that makes radar platforms, is putting $40 million into a new 86,350-square-foot factory in Kirkland, Washington.
The new plant is meant to make and ship more than 30,000 radars a year across all product lines. The company said that when the facility is at full capacity, it will hire more than 200 people. Production is set to start in the summer of 2026.
The expansion comes at a time when there is more demand around the world for radar technologies that help with border security, counter-drone, and defense.
Applied Optoelectronics is doubling down on making things in Texas
Applied Optoelectronics Inc. – AOI broke ground on a 210,000-square-foot factory in Sugar Land, Texas. The factory will make optical networking products for AI data centers and broadband networks.
AOI said it wants to raise its total investment in the project and headquarters campus from $150 million to possibly $300 million by the end of next year. The company has promised to create 500 jobs in the area that is connected to automated production lines.
Executives said that the expansion was part of Texas’s larger goal to become a leader in making infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
A Japanese company that makes plastics chooses San Antonio as its U.S. headquarters
Sanko Texas Corp., which is part of a Japanese company that makes plastics, wants to build a plant in San Antonio on a 43.7-acre site for almost $40 million.
The San Antonio Express News says that the facility, which will be Sanko’s first manufacturing plant in the U.S. and its U.S. headquarters, is expected to create up to 300 jobs once it is fully operational. About 100 people will be hired in early 2028.
Sanko makes plastic injection-molded pallets and containers that are often used in industrial supply chains and on assembly lines for cars.
Georgia gets a $17.6 million precision ball factory
According to a news release, Preciball USA is putting $17.6 million into building a new factory in Sylvania, Screven County, Georgia.
The plant will make precision balls for pumps, valves, and bearings, and it is expected to create 65 jobs. The project gives the company a bigger presence in Georgia, adding to its existing operations in Pooler, where its headquarters are located.
Rockwell Automation chooses Wisconsin for its factory of the future
Rockwell Automation, a major organization that makes machines for factories, chose New Berlin, Wisconsin, as the site of a new manufacturing campus that will be called a factory of the future.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the planned greenfield facility will have more than 1 million square feet of factory and warehouse space. It is part of a larger $2 billion investment strategy for domestic manufacturing over the next five years.
The company hasn’t released any job numbers yet, but the leaders of the company said that the project could become Rockwell’s largest manufacturing campus in the world.
SEL puts $50 million into expanding in Idaho
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories – SEL is getting ready to build a new electronic device factory in Moscow, Idaho. The factory will be 250,000 square feet.
The $50 million investment will increase the number of devices made to monitor and protect electric power systems around the world. When the plant is fully up and running, it will hire about 1,000 people. Hiring will start in 2027 and happen in stages.
Tovala is going to build a 140,000-square-foot food processing plant in Illinois
Provider of fresh meals and technology, Tovala, just announced a new food processing plant in Winfield, Illinois, that will be 140,340 square feet to meet rising demand.
Brennan Investment Group, which is based in Chicago, will build the state-of-the-art facility as a build-to-suit project. Construction is set to start in March 2026 and finish in the second quarter of 2027. This is Brennan’s fourth build-to-suit project in the food service industry.