Busche is expecting to bring 200 high-paying jobs to the former Copeland Plant. Several of the current workers with CR Compressors will be retained by Busche during the transition period. | Special to the Enquirer

Indiana company purchases old Copeland plant

An Indiana company is purchasing the old Copeland plant on Thompson Road and will bring more than 200 jobs to Hartselle and Morgan County.

Busche finalized negotiations with CR Compressors LLC, a company in Emerson Electric’s Climate Technologies business segment, Monday for the complex including the 263,000-square-foot building located on 48 acres in Hartselle at the I-65 Thompson Road exit.

Busche will retain former Emerson to help with the transition.

Mayor Dwight Tankersley said this is a good move for the city.

“It’s good for Hartselle and all of Morgan County,” Tankersley said. “What’s even better about it is that some of the Emerson employees will be retained by Busche.”

Tankersley said Busche and another company were looking at purchasing the Copeland plant on and off for the past year. However, no deal was finalized until Monday.

“The Morgan County Economic Development Association and (president) Jeremy Nails have been working intensely to find a buyer for the Copeland facility,” Tankersley said. “Both companies were very interested in the facility.”

Tankersley said the company will be bringing high-paying, highly-skilled jobs to the area. He believes that could be a boost to the Morgan Center Business Park, which is scheduled to officially open Nov. 1.

“I think it will help the new Morgan Center Business Park,” Tankersley said. “It’s always good to get these types of manufacturing jobs in our area.”

Busche officials said they will do value added long-term machining contract work at the Alabama facility. With very few large machining organizations in the South, Nick A. Busche, CEO/President of Busche, saw this move as a win-win situation.

Alabama is positioned with numerous major automotive manufacturing facilities located close by. BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, Mando and Volkswagen.

The trend of many OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufactur-ers) in recent years has been to build and expand in the die Southern regions. This purchase positions Busche with a northern and southern solution for its customers.

The Alabama location is close to several suppliers of intricate raw castings and forging, requiring the complex machining capabilities Busche provides. The new location will allow Busche to offer a more competitive answer to growing freight costs.

“Within the next three years, Busche will he a major contributor to Alabama’s economic prosperity,” said Gov. Robert Bentley. “We appreciate the fact that they chose Alabama for this plant and look forward to working with them in the future.”

Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Com-merce, thanked the company for its decision to locate in Alabama.

“With Alabama rapidly on the way to becoming the third largest automotive producing state in the country, we welcome Busche as our latest supplier and thank them for the confidence they have shown in Alabama’s business climate,” Canfield said.

Busche will retain former Emerson employees on the Busche Alabama team to help make this a seamless transition.

Busche is a computer numerical control production machining organization employing over 600 skilled employees at their nine production facilities located in Northeast Indiana and North Alabama.