Nifco building framed

A local construction company has recently completed the steel framing of a structure that will house an international auto parts maker that is coming to Shelbyville next year.

In late December, workers from R.E. Purnell Construction bolted the last beam in what will be Nifco auto parts manufacturing newest U.S. facility.

Nifco, a Japanese auto parts manufacturer, will use the 80,000 square-foot building to make auto fasteners for Toyota, Honda and American models.

The Shelbyville plant will be the company's fourth in the U.S. Currently Nifco has 52 operations in 14 countries and about 4,600 employees worldwide. Their average annual revenue is about $1.1 billion.

The company, which decided to bring their operation to Shelbyville last March, will employ 150 workers by 2009.

Company officials expect the sales from the Shelbyville operation to average $50 million per year.

Matt Cain, the superintendent for the framing of the building, said he was impressed that the Japanese company went with a local contractor for the job.

Purnell Construction, which has been in operation since 1988, used an estimated 80 tons of steel in the two and a half weeks that it took to erect the structure.

Cain said while the framing was a large task, the company has done larger.

In 2002, Purnell Construction did the steel framing for the Baltimore Ravens' football stadium.

The general contracting for the building is being managed by Wolford Steel out of Versailles.