From left, Valerie Shaffer, president of the Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County, and Richmond Mayor Dave Snow congratulate Rick Shrader, president of American Quality Molds, for being awarded a state grant. Supplied image
RICHMOND — American Quality Molds plans to grow.
That process began with a move last March to Richmond, and $53,500 from the state of Indiana's Manufacturing Readiness Grants program accelerates the growth. American Quality Molds became the third Shrader Enterprises business housed in the corporate facility at 710 N.W. Fifth St.
"The idea is to take us further along in our overall plan, and we can begin to employ more people at higher wages," said Don Shrader, a vice president of American Quality Molds. "We do have a long-term plan for five and 10 years, and the grant helps us accelerate that to some degree."
The matching grant program is administered by Conexus Indiana and the Indiana Economic Development Corp. to help manufacturers obtain capabilities and machinery to bring products to market quicker. American Quality Molds proposed a $200,000 program and asked for a $100,000 grant, receiving just more than half of the request.
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Because it's a matching grant, American Quality Molds will be investing more than $107,000 into capital equipment improvements by next summer. Don Shrader said the company plans to add mechanical lift devices for the safety of its workers plus quality control equipment and an additional machining center to better serve customers.
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