After bringing 100 jobs from China to NH during the past year and a half, Webster Valve and Foundry in Franklin is adding 25,000 feet of manufacturing space and expects to add up to 25 employees once the addition is completed early next year.
“We have a long history of employing people up there. Some of our employees are third generation working in the plant. It is a tremendous knowledge base,” says Bill McCartney, chief financial officer of Watts Water, the parent company of Webster Valve based in Andover, Mass. Webster Valve and Foundry has been in Franklin for 52 years and is the city’s largest employer at 510 employees. Watts Water Technologies has 5,900 employees worldwide and 70 locations. Webster Valve is the largest among them.
McCartney says the company is spending $12 million on the expansion and another $4 million on machines and tools. Webster Valve produces backflow preventers, water pressure regulators, temperature and pressure relief valves and hydraulic control valves, among other products. The company invests a couple million a year on new and upgraded machinery and tools.
“It is where we manufacture our most important products,” McCartney says.
