PGT Industries Inc., a manufacturer of hurricane resistant doors and windows, recently announced that it will open a plant in Rowan County, N.C., creating 712 jobs and an investment of $31 million over the next five years.

Florida-based PGT has operated a 230,000 square foot plant in Lexington since 2003 that employs 388 people, but the company decided it needed to expand to meet a backlog of orders and the growing demand for its products. After determining that the Lexington facility could not be enlarged enough to meet its needs, and that no other options were available in Davidson County, the company considered potential sites in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida before focusing on a 390,000 square foot building in Salisbury being vacated by GDX Automotive.

PGT plans to transition the 388 jobs from Lexington to Salisbury, a 30-minute drive, and consolidate production operations for a total of 1,100 jobs at the Rowan County facility.

Most of the new Salisbury positions will be skilled production jobs that will pay an average wage of more than $32,000 a year not including benefits. This is higher than the Rowan County average of $29,500 without benefits. The company plans to implement a skill-based pay structure that encourages employees to learn new job duties and skills on the production line to move up within the company.

"After a thorough search across the southeastern United States, PGT selected Rowan County to expand its operations because of the availability of a skilled labor force, affordable housing, competitive tax burden, state and local incentives, and business-friendly environment," said Linda Gavit, vice president for human resources. "In addition, the availability of the GDX site allows us to expand quickly and capitalize on the existing, trained workforce we have in Lexington."

PGT Industries is the 36th Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) recipient since the program began in 2002, and the second recipient in 2006.

For each year that PGT meets required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equivalent to 65 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs. If the organization creates all of the new jobs called for under the agreement in addition to retaining 388 existing jobs in the state, and sustains those jobs for 10 years, PGT could receive a maximum benefit of $5.35 million.

JDIG grants are awarded only to projects whose benefits exceed their costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. Since 2003, the program has been responsible for creating approximately 12,000 jobs and $2.2 billion in investment to North Carolina.