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Auto industry momentum continues on Detroit's east side.
Mayor Mike Duggan appeared Tuesday morning with Andra Rush, president and chief executive of Dakkota Integrated Systems, to announce her firm's plans for a $55-million factory that it'll build where Kettering High educated teens for 47 years until 2012. They spoke at that site.
The 600,000-square-foot plant, to be built on 32 acres alongside I-94 and Van Dyke Road, will supply the future FCA assembly factory on Mack Avenue nearby. Dakkota manages assembly and Tier One supplier sequencing of integrated automotive interiors -- "modules," in its jargon -- for auto manufacturers.
"As soon as we finished the FCA deal, we immediately got to work to bring suppliers to the area," a media release quotes Mayor Mike Duggan as saying.
Rush's 18-year-old company, a joint venture with Magna International, is based in Holt, Mich. (Ingham County). This will be its first Detroit site, with more than 600 projected to be filled next year.
Qualified city residents get first consideration for employment. A registration link is below.
"Hiring for the estimated 625 jobs at this new site will prioritize Detroiters by interviewing from the list of city residents who have completed a Detroit at Work job readiness event," the city job search and training agency posts.
About 200 openings are expected to be filled next June through August, with another 425 employees hired from October through mid-December 2020.
Andra Rush started Dakkota in 2001. (Photo: Company)
For priority status, applicants must live in Detroit, be at least 18, have reliable transportation and be eligible to work in the United States. Dakkota doesn't ask about past criminal convictions.
After preliminary screening by Detroit at Work, applicants will be interviewed by Dakkota, take a physical exam and undergo drug screening.
The city's information site adds:
Detroiters interested in applying for positions with Dakkota Integrated Systems will be required to register with Detroit at Work, and attend and complete a job readiness event in the same way as FCA applicants.
Once completed, Detroit residents on the list will be notified by email when the application link is open from Dakkota Integrated Systems.
To register and schedule a job readiness event to attend, please follow the existing FCA process by clicking here.
Crain's Detroit Business tracks the acquisition of two properties from the city's school system:
The Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (DRBA), an arm of city government, recently purchased the 27.55-acre Kettering High School site at 6101 Van Dyke Ave. and the 6.3-acre former Rose Elementary School at 5830 Field St. for $2.6 million. The Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education approved the sale on June 18.
Separately, FCA plans to add 5,000 jobs at two east-side plants.
Kettering High School, shut since 2012, is on the 32-acre factory site. I-94 is at top and Van Dyke Road is at right. (Photo: Google Earth)
