Oregon governor: More jobs on the way

KOIN:

On Friday Governor Kitzhaber praised Wilsonville furniture manufacturer Mastercraft for expanding its operations in Oregon, contributing to what the governor's office calls "a national trend of manufacturing jobs returning to the United States."Mastercraft Furniture is expected to grow rapidly in 2012, opening a new manufacturing plant in Stayton, Ore., this spring. The move is expected to create 100 new jobs. The company has already ramped up from 40 employees in mid-2011 to 150 now.The new plant will supply fabric-covered furniture to home furnishing giant IKEA.   "This is a perfect example of an Oregon company 'insourcing,'" Kitzhaber said in a prepared statement Friday. "[They're] providing Oregonians with home-grown employment opportunities at jobs formerly sent overseas." Kitzhaber recently traveled to the White House, where he participated in an "Insourcing American Jobs" forum with President Barack Obama.  In September 2010, Mastercraft Furniture entered into a contract to produce IKEA's proprietary line of fabric-covered furniture. Mastercraft shipped the first couches under the IKEA contract in March 2011. The Governor's Office reports that, since then, the company has outgrown its Wilsonville facility. It is funding its Stayton expansion -- into a 200,000-square-foot vacant building in the Stayton Industrial Park -- with a $125,000 forgivable loan from the Governor's Strategic Reserve Fund.                

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