Today Cree’s Ruud Lighting subsidiary, based in Racine, Wisc., held a groundbreaking ceremony today to highlight a 208,000-square-foot expansion to its manufacturing facility.
The company’s $24.5 million investment will focus on manufacturing and assembly of LED lighting and is expected to create 469 new full-time jobs over the next four years.
“Cree’s recent acquisition of Ruud Lighting and its BetaLED® products brought together two leading LED lighting companies under one roof,” said Chuck Swoboda, chairman and CEO of Cree. “Last month this facility shipped its 500,000th LED luminaire—further evidence of the market demand for the latest LED technology and a need to expand our facilities to maintain our leadership of the LED lighting revolution.”
The expansion will extend component and product storage capacity and house several new manufacturing lines for new and existing Cree LED lighting products. In addition to the 208,000-square-foot facility, the investment will include equipment needed to expand manufacturing operations. Most of the full-time jobs will be assembly positions, with other opportunities to follow growing demand for LED lighting products.
More information about this announcement may be found here.