American Broach & Machine shoots for $25M R&D center in Ypsilanti

Ypsilanti-based American Broach & Machine Co. is in the lead to land the research and development operations of its parent company with the help of a tax credit deal from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.”If we can get these tax credits then it’s a done deal,” says Ken Nemec, president of American Broach & Machine Co.QC American, a subsidiary of China-based Qinchaun Machine Tool Group, owner of American Broach & Machine Co., is looking to invest $25 million in the new center, which will create up to 43 jobs over the next five years. It originally looked at setting up that R&D shop by one of its factories in Toronto or by its home base in China. Nemec made a pitch for to put it in Ypsilanti and won a tentative agreement.”I thought we had enough room so we could expand in Ypsilanti,” Nemec says. A final decision should be made by February, he adds, and work on the R&D center should begin shortly afterwards.The company got its start as a custom machine tool building company in 1919 in Ann Arbor. It has since consolidated its operations in Ypsilanti, where it employs 31 people full-time and another seven part-timers after adding half a dozen jobs in 2010. It also hired its last intern from ITT Tech and plans to bring another intern on later this year.American Broach & Machine Co. builds broaching machines, which are machine tools used in customized automated cutting processes in the automotive and defense industries. QC American acquired a controlling stake in the company in 2005 and the remaining shares last year.Source: Ken Nemec, president of American Broach & Machine Co.Writer: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.