Ox Bodies Inc. – a dump truck manufacturer – plans to open operations in High Point.  This would be the first Ox Bodies operation in the state of North Carolina.  The company, founded in 1972 in Fayette, Alabama, is now a subsidiary of Federal Signal Corporation.

The new operation will add 40 jobs in High Point and bring an investment of $2 million from the company.  On Monday, April 15, the High Point City Council will consider a request from Ox Bodies to authorize up to $87,600 in performance-based incentives for the company to open an operation in the former Hatteras Yachts building at 2100 E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr.  That building is a 220,000-square-foot building that has had some smaller tenants over the years but has largely been underutilized, and city officials are no doubt pleased to see it put to substantial use.

The plans call for Ox Bodies to paint dump truck bodies and install those bodies on the chassis provided by clients at the facility, as well as to provide parts, service and installation for other commercial truck accessories.

In recent months and recent years, High Point has had a string of impressive announcements that have dramatically increased the job base in that city and Ox Bodies would up those numbers more with a variety of jobs.  Fifteen of the jobs would be added in the first year, at an annual average salary of $49,000.  Those jobs include 10 labor and production jobs, a counter sales job, a mobile service technician position and three managerial or office jobs.

Up to 25 additional labor-based jobs would be added over the next three to seven years.

The current plans call for the company to increase the High Point tax base by $2 million in upfit and equipment.  Ox Bodies would spend $1 million initially and another $1 million within five years.  In addition, the building’s landlord would also make capital improvements related to the project.

If approved by the High Point City Council as expected, the source of the incentives funding would be the High Point Economic Development Incentive Fund, which is funded by general revenues and electric revenues.