INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Rolls-Royce Corp. will add 600 jobs to its plant in the city over the next eight years as part of a $145 million expansion, officials said Wednesday.
About one-quarter of the new jobs will be devoted to aerospace technology. Rolls-Royce's Indianapolis operations – the company's largest manufacturing site in North America – has 4,000 employees.
Jobs will be available in manufacturing, engineering and research and development.
Rolls-Royce Chief Operating Officer Steven Dwyer said the company plans to upgrade its facilities and buy new machines that should help increase productivity.
''These will be crucial factors in our continued efforts to improve the position of our facility in what is an increasingly competitive industry,'' he said in a statement.
The U.K.-based company makes aircraft engines and industrial machinery.
The state is offering Rolls-Royce a $17 million forgivable loan. Indianapolis officials are offering the company a 10-year abatement valued at $11 million.
''Rolls-Royce is a world leader in this innovative, high-tech industry, and the type of company that every city in America would want to have located in their community,'' Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson said.