Yushin marking expansion with open house

OFFICIALS WILL celebrate the expansion at Yushin America Inc. on Friday, a $2 million project that saw the plant increase its manufacturing and warehouse space by 77 percent. / COURTESY JESSICA VARRONE
OFFICIALS WILL celebrate the expansion at Yushin America Inc. on Friday, a $2 million project that saw the plant increase its manufacturing and warehouse space by 77 percent. / COURTESY JESSICA VARRONE

CRANSTON – Officials will celebrate the expansion at Yushin America Inc. on Friday, a $2 million project that saw the plant increase its manufacturing and warehouse space by 77 percent.
The company added 22,400 square feet of space to its existing 47,000-square-foot facility in July, according to Michael R. Greenhalgh, director of operations.
“Our business continues to grow, and we were working in some tight quarters. We had a lot of off-site storage,” he said, adding that the expansion will allow the company to move that storage in-house.
Yushin, which sells and services industrial robots for the plastics industry, has 88 employees. Greenhalgh said there are at least five open positions – in engineering, manufacturing and service.
Gov. Gina M. Raimondo and U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed are expected to attend Friday’s open house and ribbon cutting ceremony, which begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Kenney Drive plant.
Reed, in an announcement about the event, praised the company for utilizing a work-sharing program in 2009 during the economic downturn, instead of laying off employees.
Through work sharing, companies reduce hours of employees, but they are able to keep their jobs and benefits while also receiving a portion of unemployment insurance benefits to make up for lost wages as a result of their hours being reduced. Reed, the statement said, “has been a champion for work sharing to help prevent layoffs and help companies rebound.”
Greenhalgh said they were able to leverage work sharing to retain their highly skilled engineering staff. Shorter work weeks were in place for some employees for approximately six months through work sharing, he said.

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