{"id":598286,"date":"2026-04-21T21:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598286\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:12:13","slug":"governor-stein-spotlights-north-carolinas-manufacturing-workforce-at-morinaga-america-foods-inc-ribbon-cutting-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/598286\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Stein Spotlights North Carolina\u2019s Manufacturing Workforce at Morinaga America Foods, Inc. Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today Governor Josh Stein\u00a0joined HI-CHEW candy manufacturer Morinaga America Foods, Inc. at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its second manufacturing facility outside of Asia.\u00a0The\u00a0$136 million investment in Mebane\u00a0is creating\u00a0204 jobs in\u00a0Orange\u00a0County.\u00a0In 2013, the company\u00a0established\u00a0its American subsidiary and selected North Carolina for its first manufacturing site outside of Asia, opening the Mebane plant in 2015 to produce one of the company\u2019s signature products, the fruity candy HI-CHEW.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cNorth\u00a0Carolina\u2019s\u00a0competitive edge is its people, and our strong manufacturing workforce continues to attract\u00a0investment from\u00a0companies\u00a0from\u00a0around the world,\u201d\u00a0said Governor Josh Stein.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0grateful for our\u00a0deep\u00a0partnership with Japan\u00a0and look forward to supporting Morinaga’s ongoing\u00a0success\u00a0story in\u00a0Orange County.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMorinaga\u2019s continued investment in Orange County is a strong endorsement of North Carolina\u2019s manufacturing workforce and our ability to support global companies as they grow in the United States,\u201d\u00a0said N.C. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve built the talent, infrastructure, and partnerships that help companies succeed here, and we\u2019re proud to see that success continue to grow in Mebane.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Carolina is home to the largest manufacturing workforce in the Southeast, with\u00a0nearly 500,000\u00a0people employed in the industry. Earlier this month, Governor Stein\u00a0joined Siemens Mobility Inc.\u00a0for the ribbon-cutting for its\u00a0new passenger rail manufacturing center<\/a>\u00a0in Lexington. The rail transport manufacturer\u2019s investment\u00a0will\u00a0create more than 506 jobs\u00a0in\u00a0Davidson\u00a0County and\u00a0is estimated to\u00a0add\u00a0$1.6 billion\u00a0to North\u00a0Carolina\u2019s\u00a0economy\u00a0over\u00a0the next decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, Governor Stein met with Morinaga America Foods, Inc.\u00a0leadership\u00a0in\u00a0Tokyo, Japan, for the\u00a0Southeast U.S. (SEUS)\/Japan Association Annual Joint Meeting<\/a>.\u00a0Nearly 250\u00a0Japanese companies\u00a0operate\u00a0across more than 600 locations in North Carolina, employing more than 36,000 people.\u00a0Over the past decade,\u00a0Japanese companies have invested\u00a0nearly $20 billion\u00a0and created more than 10,000 jobs in North Carolina, accounting for\u00a0nearly 45%\u00a0of announced foreign direct investment in\u00a0the state.\u00a0Earlier this month, Governor Stein\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0SMBC, one of Japan\u2019s largest financial institutions, will\u00a0establish\u00a0its second U.S. headquarters in Charlotte to support its operations. The company will invest $50.5 million in Mecklenburg County, bringing 2,000 jobs to Charlotte over six years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since taking office last year, Governor Stein has announced more than $27\u00a0billion in new investments and nearly\u00a041,000\u00a0new\u00a0jobs coming to North Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today Governor Josh Stein\u00a0joined HI-CHEW candy manufacturer Morinaga America Foods, Inc. at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-598286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}