GOV. EASLEY ANNOUNCES CREATION OF 300 JOBS IN WAKE COUNTY
JDIG Helps Siemens Medical Solutions Expand in Cary
RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley today announced that medical technology company Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. plans to expand in Cary, adding 300 jobs and investing $60 million during the next five years. The project was made possible in part by a Job Development Investment Grant.
“For a decade, Siemens Medical Solutions has been a successful part of North Carolina’s growing health care industry,” Easley said. “Their expansion and new technology training headquarters in Cary will offer more citizens good-paying, knowledge-based jobs and help to provide our state’s workforce with the skills and services medical businesses in the global economy demand.”
While pay will vary according to job duties and responsibilities for the 300 new jobs, the overall average wage for the positions is expected to be $73,000 a year, not including benefits. That is significantly higher than the Wake County average of $41,964.
Siemens Medical Solutions USA is part of Siemens Healthcare, which is the medical products arm of German electronics Siemens AG. With more than 125 years of medical engineering and more than 30 years of health care information technology expertise, Siemens Medical Solutions provides products and services used by hospitals, home health agencies, clinics and doctors’ offices.
The company makes and markets a wide range of medical equipment, patient monitoring systems, ultrasound equipment and health care-related technology. It produces one-quarter of the hearing aids sold in the United States and radiation therapy systems that treat 29,000 cancer patients every day.
“The incentives offered by both the state and the Town of Cary, along with the highly skilled workforce in Wake County, make North Carolina an exciting location for Siemens Medical Solutions to expand its operations to meet growing demand,” said Mirko Schueppel, company vice president and controller of finance administration. “Siemens Medical Solutions was also impressed by the three excellent universities located near RTP and the continuous development of the Cary community.”
“Siemens Medical Solutions’ plans to consolidate its medical device training in Cary is good news for the town, for Wake County and for the state,” said Rep. Jennifer Weiss (D-Wake). “This is exactly the type of project that incentives legislation is designed to encourage.”
Siemens Medical Solutions USA currently employs 678 people in Cary. The expansion, which is contingent upon approval of incentives by the Town of Cary, will add 300 jobs and create a training and services headquarters at its Cary campus. This will consolidate all U.S. service operations for customers of SMS’s equipment in Cary.
Other partners that assisted with this announcement include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community College System, Town of Cary, Cary Chamber of Commerce, Capital Area Workforce Development Board, the N.C. Department of Transportation, Progress Energy and Wake County Economic Development.
The state’s Economic Investment Committee unanimously voted today to award a Job Development Investment Grant to the company to facilitate this project. This is the first JDIG awarded in 2008 and the 71st since the program began in 2003. Under terms of the 10-year agreement, the N.C. Department of Commerce estimates the project will:
- Generate a cumulative gross product value of $594 million.
- Produce a positive, cumulative net state revenue impact of about $16.7 million.
- Contribute up to $1.87 million to the state’s Industrial Development Fund for infrastructure improvements in economically distressed areas of North Carolina. This contribution is required of grant recipients located in the state’s most prosperous counties, such as Wake.
For each year in which the company meets the required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equal to 65 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs. Should the company create the jobs called for under the agreement and sustain them for 10 years, the agreement could yield as much as $5.6 million in maximum benefits for Siemens Medical Solutions.
Job Development Investment Grants are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. To date, 60 percent of all JDIGs have been awarded to North Carolina companies. Since the first grant was awarded in 2003, the program has been responsible for creating more than 27,000 jobs and $4 billion in investment in North Carolina.
For more information about Siemens Healthcare, including employment opportunities, visit www.medical.siemens.com
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