Jasper Engines buys former Kimball Plastics site for $6.9 million expansion

Jasper Engines and Transmissions is investing $6.9 million in a Jasper-area expansion that includes buying the former Kimball Plastics manufacturing facility on Power Drive. The move gives one of Dubois County’s best-known manufacturers more room for production at an existing industrial site, a practical sign that the company expects continued demand and wants to keep more work anchored in Jasper.

The company said the purchase is part of an expansion of manufacturing operations designed to support growth. Reusing the former Kimball Plastics property matters in Jasper, where industrial real estate is part of the county’s economic base and where major employers often shape the outlook for local contractors, suppliers and service firms. Power Drive sits in the city’s manufacturing corridor on Jasper’s southside, close to other industrial activity tied to the Highway 231 and 12th Ave. area.

Jasper Engines’ latest capital move also lands in a company with a long local ownership story. In 2010, Jasper Engines & Transmissions became a 100% associate-owned company through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Jasper Holdings says the stock was first offered at $2.30 a share and had risen to $1,123.90 by the end of 2023, with more than $609 million in stock distributed to associates. That structure makes expansion decisions especially significant for workers, because growth can affect both jobs and the value of associate ownership.

The new investment comes as Jasper has continued to see major industrial reinvestment. Kimball International announced a 220,000-square-foot warehouse expansion in Jasper in 2021 that was set to connect with an existing 150,000-square-foot warehouse and improve operational efficiencies. Jasper Engines’ purchase of the former Kimball Plastics site extends that pattern by putting an older industrial property back into active manufacturing use rather than leaving it idle.

The expansion has also drawn attention beyond Dubois County, with trade and regional coverage reflecting Jasper Engines’ place in the aftermarket manufacturing sector. For Jasper, the larger point is straightforward: a $6.9 million commitment to local production space signals that one of the city’s signature employers is planning for more activity, not less, and is doing it inside the county’s existing industrial footprint.