An aerial view of the Orrville facility.

JLG will reopen the company's 340,000 square foot (31,587 square metre) facility in Orrville, Ohio, which closed in 2003.

Greg Fries, manager of investor relations & analysis, said Orrville closed as part of the company's capacity rationalisation plan when the industry was in recession.

"At the time our Gradall brand telescopic material handler product line was produced there."

The Orville facility will be used for telehandler product engineering and certain component manufacturing operations, previously located at the recently sold New Philadelphia facility.

The New Philadelphia facility was sold, along with JLG's Gradall excavator line, to Alamo Group Inc for a cash consideration of USD39.4 million early this year.

JLG's North American service parts distribution operations, located at the McConnellsburg facility, would move to Orrville. That would create more manufacturing space in McConnellsburg for operations connected with JLG's Caterpillar alliance, and increase telehandler production volume, Fries said (Forkliftaction.com News #237).

JLG expects to invest about USD11 million of capital in the operation.

Bill Lasky, JLG CEO, said: "With reopening our Sunnyside facility, the sale of the New Philadelphia facility and the capacity investments we are making, by the end of this fiscal year, we will have the capacity to support more than 50 per cent higher production with the same basic manufacturing footprint we had at the end of 2005 (Forkliftaction.com News #230).

"The State of Ohio worked diligently with us in this initiative that will create approximately 150 new jobs and retain 130 other jobs. We are grateful for the economic assistance and financial incentives as part of this successful effort."