Seymour businesses receive tax abatements
Two Seymour companies are growing and making changes to increase production and meet the needs of their customers.
Fostech Inc., a local firearms manufacturer, and SpaceGuard Products Inc., which produces wire partitions and area guarding products, received tax abatements from the Seymour City Council on their planned investments.
Fostech will spend $575,000 on new equipment including a five-axel vertical machining center, and another $500,000 to enclose an area of its facility for storage, build out a retail area and renovate 4,000 square feet of existing space. Fostech estimates they will add five new employees making around $40,000 a year.
Owned by brothers David, Paul and Mark Foster and their cousin, Judd Foster who serves are company president, Fostech makes Origin-12 shotguns, ultralight AR-15 rifles and a line of firearm accessories. The company designs, builds and produces its products making it a unique operation.
In 2018, Fostech moved from the Reddington area to its current location and sells mainly through wholesalers and its website. The expansion is expected to begin in May and be completed in a year.
SpaceGuard Products is investing $425,000 in new manufacturing equipment, including a production saw, CNC plasma table and tube cutting machine, press brakes, welders and fixtures, a monorail crane and batch processing powder coat booth and application equipment.
Company president Eddie Murphy said this is the second phase of a three-phase expansion after completing a building addition last year.
“This will bring in some new equipment that will improve accuracy and modernize a lot of the equipment we already have on the factory floor,” he said.
Installation will begin in May and should be completed by the end of the year.
SpaceGuard was formed in 1990 through the consolidation of Logan Wire Co. and Force Fence Co. Products produced include storage lockers, rack safety panels, aisle guarding and mezzanine rail guarding.
The wire mesh partitions are used for a variety of applications, including machine and robotic guarding, computer security cages and networking facilities, tool cribs and warehouse or retail security.
The company has made products that are used at Cummins Seymour Engine Plant, Valeo Lighting Systems, the University of Wisconsin’s Kohl Center and Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh and on television show and movie sets.