SALEM — Not far from wharves where sailing ships left two centuries ago for the Far East, a Shetland Park company yesterday announced the expansion of a high-tech business making sapphire crystals that are shipped all over the world.
GT Solar International of Merrimack, N.H., held a ribbon-cutting to mark completion of a $27 million expansion, tripling a subsidiary's manufacturing space inside Shetland Park, a sprawling office and business complex on the waterfront.
GT Crystal Systems, the former Crystal Systems, which was acquired last year by GT Solar, makes sapphire crystals that are used in everything from LED lighting to aerospace and defense programs.
The growth of this business, at a time when the U.S. is shedding manufacturing jobs, was not lost on speakers at yesterday morning's ceremony, held under a tent overlooking Pickering Wharf and the harbor.
"Here we are ... adding jobs in the U.S. ... and selling equipment to the Chinese," said Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer of GT Solar.
In addition to more than doubling the furnaces in Salem, the number of jobs here has gone from 46 to 76 and is expected to climb above 100 by next year, the company said.
Just this week, the company announced a $3.75 million, multiyear contract targeted for a U.S.-based defense program.
In New Hampshire, GT Solar manufactures the furnaces that make the crystals — furnaces that were designed by Fred Schmid of Marblehead, the founder of Crystal Systems. Any doubts about the growth potential of this business were answered two weeks ago when the company announced a $460 million deal to sell the advanced sapphire crystallization furnaces to a manufacturer in China.
State Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry of Peabody, Mayor Kim Driscoll and state Rep. John Keenan of Salem all spoke at yesterday's ceremony.
"We all know what we need in this economy is jobs," Berry said.
"We used to export a lot of other products to China," Keenan said. "It's wonderful to see (it) come full circle."
In March, the state awarded $659,000 in investment tax credits to GT Crystal Systems to support the expansion.
After the ceremony, officials led tours of the expanded facility, which was lined with rows of furnaces monitored by a computer control room.
"This clearly is the most modern crystal-growth facility in the world," Schmid said.
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