Central Missouri-based company brings over 150 new jobs to Moberly
MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Moberly is welcoming in new workforce growth as a Mid-Missouri-based company opens its doors in the small city.
EquipmentShare held a grand opening for its new Moberly location Tuesday morning. The Columbia-based company is promising to bring 151 new jobs to the Moberly area in the next four years. This comes as Moberly is investing a $3.1 million into improving and growing its Industrial Park.
EquipmentShare invested $46 million into the new 174,000-square foot industrial and upfitting center in Moberly. The company had assistance from the state's Missouri Works program, which provides tax credits to businesses that expand in Missouri with the goal of creating more jobs.
Mechanics, technicians, research developers and more are now being recruiting to staff the new facility. EquipmentShare CEO and cofounder Jabbok Schlacks said Moberly offers a skilled and ready-to-go workforce thanks to local schools like Moberly Area Community College and nearby University of Missouri.
"What's really cool and amazing about even this place in Moberly and the workforce around here," Schlacks said. "There's already skilled labor, There's people that are intelligence, people that actually know how to do things so we can speed up, we can get going right off the bat."
Randy Asbury, president of the Moberly Area Economic Development Corporation, said the new jobs will help grow the workforce in Moberly.
"We face workforce challenges just like any community does," Asbury said. "But what we have seen and heard from our employers is that they are able to find high quality laborers that do want to work. I think that's something that will continue to be a challenge across the nation for years to come because our culture has changed and our workforce has changed."
Moberly hopes the new facility will bring workforce growth, as well as industrial and economic growth. As a nationwide company with more than 195 locations, EquipmentShare brings influence to the small city with a population around 14,000.
"We welcome them to Moberly because of the impact that will have on the community, not only in the workforce, but in the opportunity to influence and magnify the manufacturing apparatus that we already have in town with other manufacturers," Asbury said.
The new EquipmentShare facility comes as Moberly is already investing into its Industrial Park; $1.5 million from a federal Economic Development Administration grant and $1.6 million from local funds.
The federal grant is being used to retain 42 jobs and improve the roads and infrastructure for the Industrial Park, Asbury told ABC 17 News.
"We would hope that down the road as they see success here in Moberly and find that our regulations aren't quite as burdensome as they may be in other counties, that [EquipmentShare] would look to our industrial park as an expansion location," Asbury said.
