The facility will manufacture stators for the generators to be used at hydroelectric facilities currently being developed by American Municipal Power Inc.

Company officials hope to hire 40 workers when it is fully up and running in March of 2010. Voith is renovating a vacant industrial building near the Ormet Corporation along the Ohio River.

The company will ship the large stators on the Ohio River. The stator is the main component in a generator and typically one of the largest components of the power unit and weighs 128 tons.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, D-Ohio, were among those at Monday's news conference.

Voith Hydro has signed a five-year agreement to lease the vacant 32,400-square-foot facility.