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NxtGen considers Wixom investment, would create 47 new jobs

Thursday, January 24, 2008

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If you're a cleantech energy firm, Wixom has a lot to recommend it - proximity to your intended client base, a good pool of tech talent and a whopping heap of state incentives.

So says Jeremy Holt, president and CEO of Canada-based NxtGen Emissions Controls, Inc. The cleantech firm is considering a handful of sites, and Holt says they're weeks away from a decision.

The state is offering NxtGen a tax break worth $909,000 over 10 years, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The city of Wixom's good for $15,000 over five years and Oakland County's chipping in $20,000 in federal training funds.

"We're pleased with the cooperation from the MEDC, Oakland County and the city of Wixom itself, they're trying to put a package together, and combined with finding right type of facility and good pool of tech talent and manufacturing talent we need to launch our business... (those are a few) reasons we're looking at Wixom," Holt says.

A hefty tax incentive, proximity to customers and talent... so what isn't Michigan doing right?

The first thing that pops to mind, Holt says, has to do with branding.

"The state is trying to attract cleantech companies, and the state is pretty clean but it isn't doing a lot with that," he says. "I think the state's trying hard to attract businesses. Positioning Michigan as a clean state would be important for branding."

If NxtGen sites in Wixom, its facility will employ 47, Holt says, with an eye toward moving into a larger facility in the near future.

Source: Jeremy Holt, NxtGen
Writer: Nancy Kaffer