R/S-Godwin Truck Body Co., a fourth-generation family-owned trucking equipment manufacturer, announced an estimated $17 million expansion in Floyd County, Kentucky. The company expects the project to create 65 jobs.
The planned expansion will include additional land, buildings and machinery, creating skilled labor jobs for several skillsets, including welding, fabrication, CNC plasma, CNC pressbrakes, material handling and others. The company is also in the initial phase of procuring the adjacent 7-plus acres that will allow for further manufacturing capacity.
R/S-Godwin is part of the North Carolina-based Godwin Group of companies. It began in 1968 as a small local job shop catering to the Eastern Kentucky coal industry, with a focus on-highway use trucks and occasional equipment for off-highway use.
In 1977, R/S-Godwin diversified into other dump body markets. In 2002, the Godwin Group purchased the company, leading to the removal of trailers from its offerings to better focus on dump body production. The company also recently expanded to 165,000 square feet to accommodate a new powder coat paint and primer facility.
The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) approved R/S-Godwin for up to $150,000 in tax incentives through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act (KEIA). KEIA allows approved companies to recoup Kentucky sales and use tax on construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing.
By meeting its annual targets over the agreement term, the company can be eligible to keep a portion of the new tax revenue it generates. The company may claim eligible incentives against its income tax liability and/or wage assessments.
In addition, R/S-Godwin can receive resources from Kentucky’s workforce service providers, including no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job-training incentives.
