WEST VALLEY CITY — Officials in Utah's second-biggest city are hailing the relocation of a diesel engines sales and service center as a major boost for the city's transportation sector.
Industry giant Cummins Rocky Mountain LLC held a party Tuesday afternoon to celebrate its new 72,000-square-foot facility near state Route 201 and 5400 West.
Once a home to Sterling Trucks, the building has been transformed into offices, garages and training space for 74 employees. The $2.5 million investment by the company will be supplemented by $350,000 in incentive payments from West Valley taxpayers.
In exchange, the city will get new jobs and a hefty sales tax revenue increase, said city economic development director Brent Garlick. The growing industrial district in that part of town will also get a big boost, said assistant city manager Nicole Cottle.
Dozens of men in mechanic's blue overalls or T-shirts and jeans lined up Tuesday for a free catered lunch and a chance to win prizes from the company. The new Cummins facility is closer to their operations and thus more convenient, several said.
"We get a lot of our products through Cummins," explained Paul Flores, whose employer, Kenworth, built a plant a few miles away just three years ago.
The sales floor and parts service center has been moved from its original location near 300 West and 1000 South in Salt Lake City. The 60-year-old building there couldn't accommodate machinery needed for power-generation products, said Cummins Rocky Mountain President Bill Wolpert, who came from the company's Denver headquarters for Tuesday's celebration.
"This is a much better work environment," Wolpert said. "It's huge for us."
About 16 employees remain at the Salt Lake City plant for remanufacturing of high horsepower engines.
The new West Valley plant will focus on three main areas of customer service: transportation support for vehicles such as like buses and full-size hauling rigs; power generation for entities such as public water systems and hospitals; and mining equipment support for Kennecott Utah Copper in Magna, Wolpert said.
The company president then stepped into the sunshine, past huge engines showcasing massive rods and pistons and intricate bends of steel, to cut a red ribbon for the plant's official opening with ChamberWest officials and West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder by his side.
"We're here for the long haul," said Cummins purchasing agent Tom Ford. "The location near the freeway is a great fit. We couldn't let it go."
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