CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A Michigan company is gearing up to be the first in years to build television sets in the United States.
Element Electronics in Canton will soon house an assembly line that will crank out 46-inch and larger TVs.
The company's product development chief, Vlad Kazhdan, said between shipping costs and local labor costs, the company found it could build the big TVs in the U.S. for the same price as they were in China.
He also explained why Michigan got the nod.
"We could ship TVs west to east from the middle of the country, which gave us reason to choose Canton, Michigan," he said.
What's more, the company's owner is from Midwest, an adequate facility was found and the state's workforce was appealing.
"You have skilled labor there that is looking for work and we're so happy to help provide jobs for that population," Kazhdan said.
And the jobs that are coming are more than just assembly.
"We have some assembly jobs, we have call center jobs, some clerical stuff and we also have a service and recall center," Kazhdan said. "Those are the types of jobs we have here."
Production starts at the end of March or early April.
Anyone interested in checking job postings for the company can view them on their website: www.ElementElectronics.com.
Element Electronics sells their TVs at Walmart, Costco and Target.
