A Japanese magnet maker will expand its operations in China Grove.

Hitachi Metals North Carolina, which makes ferrite magnets, plans to add 65 full-time jobs and invest around $60 million in the plant over the next four years. It currently employs 65 people at the plant, which is about 140 miles southwest of Raleigh.

A company in Henderson County that specializes in drying lumber will receive a $19,700 grant from the One North Carolina Fund to add 10 jobs and invest $1.4 million over the next three years at its facility in Etowah.

“We must support North Carolina-based businesses that are looking to grow and create jobs,” Gov. Bev Perdue said in a statement today announcing the expansion.

Kiln Drying Systems & Components (KDS) now employs 32 people at the facility.  The average annual wage for the new jobs will be $50,500 plus benefits but pay will vary by function.  The Henderson County average annual wage is $32,240.

The unemployment rate in Henderson County was 2.84 percent in May, down from 4.45 percent in May, 2010.
 

A company that makes consumer packaging materials plans to put a new facility in Richmond County and hire 64 people over the next three years.

Global Packaging will receive a $64,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund to locate the manufacturing facility in Hamlet. The grant is contingent upon a match by local governments.

The company will take over the closed Alpha Plastics facility in Hamlet and invest $1.7 million in the facility. Alpha Plastics, which closed in November, had employed 32 people.

The company, which is based outside of Philadelphia in Oaks, Pa., prints high-quality graphics and then converts the printed material into a bag or sells the stock products.

The jobs will pay an average annual wage of $47,078, not including benefits. The Richmond County average annual wage is $26,624.

"The Governor's office and Richmond County have made us feel welcome," said CEO Anthony J. Maginnis.