Winston Salem Times

German ventilation company Ziehl-Abegg Inc. likes the business climate in Winston-Salem so much that it has decided to move its North American headquarters to the Piedmont Triad.

“I am delighted to congratulate Ziehl-Abegg on this expansion in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a recent press release from his office. “The company’s increased investment is a great vote of confidence in our thriving economy, central East Coast location, and skilled manufacturing workforce.” 

The $100 million project will bring an immediate 189 new jobs to the area, with positions including assembly technicians, engineers, finance, quality assurance, machinists, maintenance and various administrative personnel, the release said. Up to 500 jobs could be added overall if growth trends continue. The average salary is projected to be close to $60,000 per year.

Ziehl-Abegg manufactures commercial ventilation systems that can be found in hospitals, schools, data centers and agricultural businesses. 

The Winston-Salem headquarters is being described as “a new, state-of-the-art 500,000-square-foot building,” a recent WGHP report said.

“Megatrends such as digitalization, climate change and urbanization are leading to a growth in demand and call for a significant increase in our production capacities,” Joachim Ley, the company’s CEO, said in the release. “The U.S. market is fundamentally very important for us and is driving the expansion in North America. The 189 employees are the first step of our expansion project. We are anticipating growing to over 500 employees very rapidly.” 

The incentives include a performance-based grant of $400,000 from the One North Carolina Fund, a group that provides economic development backing to local governments to help create jobs; the WGHP report said.