LINDEN, Tenn. (WRKN) — Perry County’s largest employer, NYX Linden LLC, is expanding.

The automotive parts manufacturer currently employs 280 people in a $25 million plant on Squirrel Hollow Drive. With this announcement, they will add 137 jobs and a $10.4 million plant expansion.

“These are new jobs and new opportunities for the people that live here,” said Gov. Bill Lee. “Celebrating and announcing economic development in a community like this is really, really important.”

The project represents NYX Linden’s first expansion since establishing a presence in Tennessee in 2012. Their physical expansion will look like an additional 16,000 square feet of space to its molding bay and a 24,000 square-foot shipping warehouse.

“What’s happening right here is the reason that we are a state that is so attractive to so many people across the country,” said Lee. “And why companies like NYX have chosen to invest tens of hundreds of millions of dollars into a community like this so more Tennesseans can have more opportunities.” 

Lee commented on the need for more skilled trade workers and said the state continues to invest in trade education to help fill positions like the ones coming to NYX.

“We are really becoming the heart of the automotive industry here in Tennessee; we have four major manufacturers here,” said Lee.

NYX said they’re manufacturing more and more parts for electric vehicles, which Lee called, “the vehicles of the future”.

“They’re expanding because that industry is expanding in our state,” the governor said.

“We have a dedicated workforce here at the NYX Linden plant, and this opportunity for expansion will not only create more jobs for Perry County and the surrounding areas, but will also create advancement opportunities for our current employees,” said Todd McCaig, plant manager at NYX Linden LLC. “We are excited for this opportunity.”