Glass company to bring up to 70 jobs to Fremont

Cardinal IG Co., which makes insulated glass windows, will announce details of the “multi-million dollar expansion” at a news conference at the factory on April 26.Jim DeVaney, plant manager, declined Monday to provide additional details.Gary Nielander, executive director of the Steuben County Economic Development Corp., also declined Monday to say what kinds of jobs are being created, how much they will pay and an exact figure on how much is being invested.Cardinal IG employs about 250 at its plant at 301 E.McSwain Drive, according to information published in the 2005 Harris Indiana Industrial Directory.

Nationwide, the company employs about 4,000 at 22 manufacturing locations, according to Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Cardinal Glass Industries' Web site.

Cardinal IG is one of the two largest employers in the community, according to Chris Snyder, Fremont’s town manager.

“It’s important to any community” to have employers expand operations, Snyder said Monday. “We’re excited about it. They have good jobs.”

In February, Steuben County had the highest unemployment rate in the region at 7.1 percent, according to data from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

The Fremont operation, about eight miles east of Angola, is one of 10 that work with insulated glass. The Steuben County plant assembles panes – manufactured at another company site – together into window frames, which are sold to residential window manufacturers for new-home constructions and as replacements for existing windows.

The 12,000-square-foot Fremont plant generates estimated annual sales between $25 million and $50 million, according to the Harris directory.

The company is owned by its management.

Cardinal also operates wholly owned subsidiaries that make coated glass and float and tempered glass, and has plants nationwide, including locations in California, Texas, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.