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A German manufacturer of automotive parts plans to expand its Northern Kentucky facilities over the next two years with a capital investment that could top $35 million and will create 145 jobs.
Mubea Inc., which has operations in both Boone and Kenton counties, already has grown to nearly 475 full-time employees and expects its U.S. sales to be $150 million next year, up from sales this year of $138 million, said Mike Lubbers, Mubea's director of finance.
The company manufactures such products as transmission disc springs and hose clamps and boasts that it manufactures between 60 percent and 65 percent of all the hose clamps in the U.S. automotive market.
Lubbers said he expects new growth to be fueled by a joint venture Mubea's German-based parent company recently entered into with Japanese-based Chuo.
"In the U.S. market we have zero percent of the Japanese transplant market, which represents 33 percent...