Vance to tout ‘industrial resurgence’ at plant whose new jobs pay $20 an hour

• Michigan manufacturing will be highlighted by Vice President JD Vance on Friday
• Vance will visit a Bay City-area company that received $1.2 million from the state to expand in Michigan instead of Nevada
• Vantage Plastics promised 93 news jobs, with average pay less than Michigan’s median pay

Vice President JD Vance plans to tout “America’s industrial resurgence” Friday at a plastics factory near Bay City that was awarded a $1.2 million grant from the state two years ago to add 93 jobs paying less than the state’s median wage.

Vantage Plastics, a custom plastics molder, will host Vance on his first visit to the state since the November election. Vance will make the trip with Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. 

The Bangor Township event will feature “a conversation about the future of American manufacturing,” the company said on its Facebook page. 

The visit comes as the Trump administration celebrates 10,000 new US manufacturing jobs in February — and threatens to expand aggressive tariffs that have many businesses on edge.

It will also come a day after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer met with President Donald Trump at the White House. They “talked about bringing good-paying jobs to Michigan” during the Thursday meeting,  she said in a statement. 

Here’s what to know about the company

Vantage Plastics was founded with six employees in Standish, north of Bay County in Arenac County, in 1996, according to its webpage. The custom plastics company is run by brothers Paul and George Aultman, and it supplies the automotive, agricultural and medical industries, among others. 

In 2023, the company was considering an expansion to Nevada, according to a memo provided to the Michigan Strategic Fund — the public funding arm of the MEDC — as it sought a state subsidy to add to its then-318 jobs in Michigan. 

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The state gave Vantage Plastics a $1.2 million grant, MEDC spokesperson Otie McKinley told Bridge on Thursday. The company has added 33 jobs as of October, and 93 new jobs are expected at the new facility in Bangor Township. 

Pay for the new jobs, the state was told, would average $20.54 per hour, or $42,723 per year. 

That is 9% less than the state’s median wage in 2023 of  $22.57 per hour, or $46,940 per year. The median hourly earnings for production workers as of January was $28.74 per hour, according to the state. 

Vantage Plastics declined comment to Bridge, referring all media inquiries to the White House. Data for the company on job hiring site Indeed.com indicates that production roles pay $15.27 to $16.99 per hour. A mold injection operator would earn $21.63 per hour.

As Trump seeks to use tariffs to rectify a trade imbalance with North American neighbors, Vantage Plastics also is among Michigan companies trading with Mexico, according to a story about the company by the MEDC. 

Among Vantage Plastics’ customers have been General Motors and Tesla.

Vance’s visit is the second showcasing moment for company leadership. Republican state Rep. Mike Hoadley brought CEO Paul Aultman to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s annual State of the State address in February.

What to know about the manufacturing environment

The Trump administration has kept many manufacturers off-balance as it launches trade wars that come with high stakes in Michigan, where auto industry supply chains cross many borders.  

Roughly $77 billion in goods cross the Canadian border each year, and the state trades another $69 billion with Mexico. 

More than 280,000 Michiganders work in auto industry jobs, while a total of 586,900 are employed in manufacturing, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number represents nearly 15% of all Michigan jobs. 

Vance's visit to Michigan also comes less than a week after Trump called on Congress to "get rid of" the CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan law signed by former President Joe Biden to help fund advanced manufacturing developments.

In January, the Biden administration awarded $325 million in CHIPS Act funding to Hemlock Semiconductor to build a manufacturing facility outside of Saginaw, about 30 miles southwest of where Vance is to speak near Bay City.

State and local officials are now hoping to secure another CHIPS award to facilitate construction of a major semiconductor facility in Mundy Township near Flint, about 50 miles south of the Vance appearance.

Trump called the law a "horrible, horrible thing," arguing that his aggressive use of tariffs will convince companies to bring production facilities to the US without the need for government financing.

In her Thursday visit with Trump, Whitmer “broadly” discussed the potential Mundy Township project, according to spokesperson Bobby Leddy. 

Whitmer said she and Trump also discussed tariffs, the Great Lakes and “additional defense investments in the state.” She has been seeking another fighter squadron at Selfridge Air Force Base in Macomb County.