LANSING – AG Simpson Automotive Systems is packing up to move out of Troy and back into Sterling Heights.

After a five-year hiatus, the company will return with city tax credits and up to 130 new jobs to its Sterling Heights assembly plant that went bankrupt at the end of 2001.

The state offered 11 companies, two cities and a county $218 million in tax abatement and financial incentives to expand in Michigan.

AGS is expected to receive a six-year, $576,000 single business tax credit and a nine-year, $357,000 local tax abatement.

“The move will take place in the next couple of months and will be complete by the end of the year,” communications director Maria DiZio said.  “The place has been mothballed for years so they’ll have to clean up.”

The company manufactures automotive components.

DiZio estimated that 80 percent of the plant’s workforce will receive hourly wages, while the remainder of the workforce will be engineering and sales salary positions.

The Troy assembly plant has about 70 employees.

“There won’t be any new jobs in the first few months,” DiZio said.  “Jobs will be created over the next two years as part of our growth plan.”

Once settled in, the company plans to add stamping and plating capabilities on top of assembly and sequencing jobs, she said.

Michigan Manufacturers Association Vice President Chuck Hadden said the new operations will require better-trained employees.

“The profession of stamping more and more requires higher education because, nowadays, it’s all computerized machinery,” Hadden said.

DiZio said the move is desirable because Sterling Heights is closer to the company’s customer base.  AGS primarily supplies to General Motors Corp. plants in Warren and DaimlerChrysler Corp. facilities in Sterling Heights, but also works with TI Automotive headquartered in Warren and Delphi based in Troy.

Hadden said AGS’s move and expansion will be beneficial.

“Expanding is exactly the right thing to do.  Michigan needs to remain one of the manufacturing centers of the world.”

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) approved the tax credits for the 14 companies, including American Litho Inc. in Kentwood, BASF Corp. in Wyandotte, Backyard Storage Solutions in Monroe and Ryder Integrated Logistics Inc. in Novi.

The cities of Flint and Lansing and Berrien County will benefit from more than $96.5 million in tax incentives to help businesses expand locally.

A proposed ten-year tax credit of $27.2 million would help establish the Siemens VDO Automotive Corp. North American headquarters in Auburn Hills.  The city also offered the company $1.5 million in tax breaks over the next eight years.

If Siemens accepts the proposal, the company projects it could create over 1,000 jobs.

“Between 8,500 and 8,600 jobs could be directly and indirectly created,” said Michael Shore, MEDC’s chief communications officer.