HARLINGEN — The economic development project tagged with the code name “Henhouse” has been revealed.
City officials yesterday announced the expansion of Fox Valley Molding Inc., a plastics injection molding company already located in Harlingen.
The company is a custom processor of thermoset molding compounds and engineering grade thermoplastics, most of which are used in the manufacture of appliances.
“They will be expanding their existing facility and creating 28 new high-skilled, high-wage jobs that the city strives to attract,” Mayor Chris Boswell said.
The additional jobs will increase Fox Valley Molding’s annual payroll by 35 percent over the next three years, officials said.
“Since we started operations in Harlingen in 2001, we knew this strategic location would allow us to serve our customers in the United States and Mexico faster and more efficiently saving us time and money,” said Don Haag, the company’s owner. “Harlingen is a city with long-term growth potential, and we are honored by the outstanding support we’ve received from the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation.”
Fox Valley Molding is located in the 530-acre Harlingen Industrial Park off of FM 509 (an overweight corridor to the Los Indios International Bridge) and Grimes Road on the east side of Harlingen.
About 80 acres are left to develop, officials said.
Harlingen Industrial Park is home to other manufacturers such as Cardone Industries, Penn Aluminum, Aloe Labs, Pentair, Atlantic Tool & Die, ITD Metal Stamping, Pan American Hydrogen and more.
“The Board and staff at HEDC understand that real economic growth comes from the creation of primary jobs, and this project does just that,” said Lupita Gutierrez- Garza, incoming chair and president of the HEDC. “Small to mid-sized manufacturing companies are the backbone of the manufacturing base here in Harlingen, and we strive to help them grow whenever we can.”
CEO of the Harlingen economic development agency, Raudel Garza, said Fox Valley Molding was seeking help with some of its upfront costs of setting up new equipment and with some expenses related to expanding the existing facility.
“HEDC presented them with a proposal to help with some of those expenses based on job creation and the investment being made by Fox Valley Molding,” Garza said.
Primary jobs creation in Harlingen over the past four years has helped drive the unemployment rate down from 9.1 percent in August 2012 to a 5.2 percent rate this past May. The overall jobless rate for Texas is 4.4 percent.
