EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) _ President Barack Obama’s visit to southwestern Indiana will include a stop at a minority-owned steel processor to discuss steps his administration has taken to help in restore the economy, the White House said Tuesday.
Obama will visit Millennium Steel Service LLC near Princeton to mark Manufacturing Day on Friday, the Evansville Courier & Press and WFIE-TV reported.
A statement released by the White House said Obama will speak Thursday at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Illinois and “highlight the progress we’ve made building a New Foundation for the American economy … and underscore the steps we need to take to continue our progress and ensure that more middle-class families feel that progress in their own lives.”
“The president will travel to Millennium Steel in Princeton, Indiana, on Friday as a part of Manufacturing Day to highlight this strategy,” the statement said.
Millennium Steel was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between Henry Jackson and Toyota to supply processed steel for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana outside Princeton. The company’s website says revenue grew from $37 million in 2001 to $250 million in 2011. Black Enterprise Magazine rates the company one of the 100 Top Black Owned Businesses.
The company started with 10 employees. Gibson County officials say it now has 58.
“Millennium Steel is a fantastic corporation that is located in Gibson County simply because of Toyota,” Todd Mosby, the president of the Gibson County Economic Development Corp., told the Courier & Press. He said rolls of steel arrive at Millennium “and they roll it out and then process it so it can be used in the fabrication of the vehicles.”
Obama’s remarks at Millennium Steel will be closed to the public.
The president is flying in and out of Gary/Chicago International Airport aboard Air Force One on Wednesday and Thursday for his trip to the area, include his talk at Northwestern. Air traffic at O’Hare International Airport _ where the president usually lands _ is not back to normal after an arson fire at a suburban Chicago radar center last week disrupted air travel.
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Online: www.millenniumsteelservice.com
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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com
