Gov. Bev Perdue called Monday “a red letter day in Hamlet” as she announced a Pennsylvania plastics manufacturer is planning to bring 250 jobs and a $19 million investment to Richmond County over the next three years.

The location of the new plant is not known. The company is working to close a real estate deal on the property.

During her remarks, Perdue said the rural counties in the state, “the counties we love,” have struggled the most throughout the economic recession.

“These are big jobs - they are really important jobs,” Perdue said, flanked by N.C. Sen. Bill Purcell and Rep. Melanie Wade Goodwin at the podium. “The announcement I am going to make today is equal to 2,000 or 3,000 jobs being added to an urban area.”

Plastek Industries is planning to add a consumer products division based in Richmond County, which will pay its workers an average annual wage of $32,800. The average wage in Richmond County is $26,600.

The company makes plastic packaging for such consumer and personal care items as deodorant sticks.

Plastek was started by Joseph Prischak in 1956 in Erie, Pa. as a tool manufacturer, Perdue said. It expanded into the plastics industry in the 1970’s.

Richmond County Manager Rick Sago said the company has told him the first jobs should come within six months of Monday’s announcement.

Plastek Industries Vice President of Manufacturing Daniel Prischak said the company will improve its distribution capabilities by adding operations in Richmond County.

“The location in North Carolina was very important in making this happen,” Prischak said after the announcement. “From a financial aspect, the incentives and tax credits we received were also extremely important. (My impression of this area is also) very good, and we think very highly of Hamlet and of Richmond County.”

At the podium, Prischak said the company is looking forward to opening operations here, “and plans to be here for a long time.”

He said the company employs between 1,500 and 2,000 people, but likes to consider itself a small, family-run business.

“This is an area that we looked at, and we saw the potential for growth,” Prischak said of choosing Richmond County for the expansion. “The excellent workforce (Gov. Perdue) talked about definitely came into play as well.”

Future General Manager of the North Carolina Division of Plastek Steve Ulrich also spoke, saying he looked forward “to serving a very, very strong customer base.”

Local officials said they’d been in contact with Plastek since September, working to make the announcement a reality.

“The Board of Commissioners has put in a lot of hard work into making Richmond County a business and industry-friendly community, and this is a good example of it,” said Richmond County Commissioners Chairman Kenneth Robinette. “This is our third North Carolina (economic development incentives package) we’ve announced here in Richmond County in the last six months, and I don’t think you’ll see any other Tier I county with that many.”

Robinette referenced recent announcements that Knit-Rite and Therafirm, a pair of textiles manufacturers, were relocating to Richmond County.

“This just goes to show the success you can have with a focused group of people who are all working toward one goal,” Sago said, crediting economic development partners at the state level, in the county’s municipal governments, the community college, public schools and others.

Plastek was awarded a $250,000 grant from the state’s One North Carolina Fund, an economic development recruitment tool as well as a Job Development Investment Grant from the state Economic Investment Committee. That could earn the company up to about $2 million over the next nine years.

The JDIG allows a company to receive a grant worth 65 percent of state personal income tax withholdings from jobs created for each year the company meets annual performance targets.

“North Carolina provides Plastek a great workforce and platform to better serve our customer base,” Plastek President and CEO Dennis Prischak said in a press release. “We look forward to further growing this new division of Plastek and providing more value for our customers and more jobs for the region. We are very excited about this project and thankful to all the officials in the State of North Carolina who have helped make this a reality.”

After finishing up the announcement, Perdue’s representatives said the governor was scheduled to take a tour of the community college and visit nursing and technical education classes.

Despite Perdue’s background as an advocate for public education, she said Monday she “has become a jobs governor” while coping with the economic downturn.

She was also scheduled to appear Monday afternoon in Stanly County for an economic development announcement at the Michelin Aircraft Tire Corp. facility in Norwood.

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.