Vacant Stellantis plant to be repurposed by German auto supplier - mlive.com

Laepple Automotive plans to invest $93.4 million into redeveloping a former Stellantis tool and die facility into a metal stamping plant. (MLive file photo)Tanya Moutzalias | MLive

A German auto supplier plans to redevelop a former Stellantis facility into a metal stamping plant.

Laepple Automotive expects to invest $93.4 million repurposing the Mount Elliott Tool and Die Facility in Detroit – a historic automotive stamping plant that was idled in 2018. The project is expected to create 173 jobs and establish the facility as Laepple’s U.S. headquarters.

The Michigan Strategic Fund during its Tuesday, Sept. 24 board meeting awarded the company a $3.5 million grant and a State Essential Services Assessment property tax exemption valued at $653,760.

“For this project, Laepple has a deep knowledge in revitalizing former industrial facilities and bringing them back to life, as we have seen in Germany, which really makes this a terrific opportunity for Detroit and Michigan,” said Vlatko Tomic-Bobas, a Europe investment director for the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Founded as a metal repair shop in 1919, Laepple now manufactures spare auto body parts like hoods, fenders, doors and trunk lids.

Laepple plans to lease 270,000 square feet of the vacant 428,000-square-foot Mount Elliott facility from the building’s new owner METD Detroit, Inc. The building will be rehabilitated and modified with the installation of new auto manufacturing equipment.

In the 1990s, Laepple brought a former German cold rolling plant back to life. This facility now employs more than 700 people, supplying BMW, VW, Webasto, Mercedes and Porsche with spare auto parts.

Oliver Wackenhut, manager director of Laepple, says the Detroit plant could help the company expand its U.S. footprint.

“With the existing building and the existing equipment, it would really help to launch our business in North America to supply our existing customers,” he said. “But with that, we have also in mind that we are expanding our customer portfolio and we would like to step in with the Big Three.”

Related: Saab to open a $75 million munitions plant in northern Michigan by 2026

Laepple manufactures parts by stamping sheet metal into rough shapes that are then finished by robotic unicells. The robotic equipment can be reprogrammed to produce parts for any auto maker.

“I think one of the things that makes this company really exciting is the way that their business model works. They can customize parts for any OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and that provides them with a very wide customer base,” said Michelle Grinnell, senior vice president of market growth and business attraction at MEDC.

In a July news release, Laepple Automotive says it returned production to the United States after it won a “major order” for an American electric vehicle manufacturer. Parts production started in Alabama last September.

Laepple also considered an Alabama facility for its investment, but Wackenhut says the company chose Detroit because of the existing building and available workforce.

“We need a really big building with big overhead cranes, and Mount Elliott is the perfect place which can facilitate this business,” he said. “And honestly, these buildings are, at the moment, not available in the South.”

Laepple, which currently does not have any Michigan operations, employs 1,200 people at two plants in Germany. A separate entity called Fibro Laepple Technology employs 18 people at a Michigan training facility.

The Michigan Strategic Fund on Tuesday also backed a $75 million project from Saab.

Saab plans to build a facility in Grayling Township that will supply defense equipment to the U.S. military. The state awarded the project a $3.5 million grant and a 15-year property tax exemption.

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