Michigan Ladder Co. is continuing its effort to expand operations in Ypsilanti and will add more local jobs because of rising costs to have products shipped from China, Bridge Magazine reported.
Tom Harrison, CEO of the Michigan Ladder Co., is in the process of purchasing the century-old ladder manufacturing company from the Nissly family.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com file photo
The 111-year-old business assembles wood and fiberglass ladders and has recently added five new jobs and will add six more over the next two years.
Company CEO Tom Harrison told Bridge that higher shipping costs and a stronger Chinese currency, have offset lower labor costs in China.
Harrison's company is one of many throughout the country that are moving productions from overseas back into the United States.
In 2011, Harrison told AnnArbor.com that he planned to begin shifting operations to Ypsilanti and planned to invest several hundred thousand dollars locally. The company has a 75,000-square-foot ladder warehouse on East Forest Avenue.
Harrison said at the time that government support for industries in China will go away over time and that his company would be "ahead of the curve" by making the shift.