Keihin Carolina System Technology will create 50 jobs and invest more than $13 million to expand its facility in Tarboro.
KCST produces engine control units and electronically activated solenoids for automatic transmissions in Honda and Acura cars. The engine control units are minicomputers that regulate operations such as emissions and ignition. The solenoids help control oil flow.
The company currently employs 370 people in Tarboro, about 70 miles east of Raleigh. KCST's Japanese parent company, Keihin, employs 1,800 people in North America and 16,000 worldwide.
KCST was founded in 1997 and expanded the facility in 2003. The company announced this latest expansion during an event attended by Gov. Bev Perdue but isn't receiving state incentives as part of the expansion.
Perdue's office also announced Friday that Lydall, another auto-parts manufacturer, is expanding its facility in Yadkinville, about 25 miles west of Winston-Salem, and will create 170 jobs over the next three years.
Lydall's products protect passengers from extreme heat and insulate them from noise and vibration.
The Connecticut-based company will receive a state grant worth as much as $300,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund. The new jobs will pay an average annual wage of $25,294 plus benefits, less than the Yadkin County average of $27,716.
