Clarios leadership makes key stop in St. Joseph as company plans $6 billion to boost manufacturing in U.S.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- One of St. Joseph's top employers and a global leader in battery production is engaging key cities and potential sites for development as it prepares to invest billions to advance energy manufacturing in the U.S.

Representatives with Clarios, the Chamber of Commerce and local media gathered for a meet and greet Thursday at the Chamber as an opportunity to strengthen ties with longstanding company cities and learn about its ambitious $6 billion U.S. energy manufacturing investment plan announced in March.

The long-term strategy is multifaceted -- vastly expand the company's footprint as a global leader and innovator in advanced battery production and other energy manufacturing, and strengthen the country's manufacturing prowess and workforce.

"It's almost a generational opportunity that we have here. There's a combination of demand in the marketplace for advanced batteries that we produce and then this resurgence in U.S. manufacturing and bringing manufacturing back to the United States," Clarios Chief Communications Officer Tom Downie told News-Press NOW.

The company has more than 900 employees in St. Joseph across its assembly plant and distribution center on Pear Street and Lower Lake Avenue, producing advanced batteries that are found in one out of every three cars worldwide.

Thursday's meet and greet included discussions about the city and the key role its facilities play in Clarios' domestic and global operation.

"St. Joe's a huge part of it. St. Joe is one of our larger facilities and probably one of the top three sites in the U.S.," Downie said. "That's the key part of this ... to better understand what their needs are and how we might be able to work together in the future."

A vital component of Clarios' investment plan includes a new state-of-the-art Manufacturing Technology & Training Center, designed as a hub for workforce development and the next generation of manufacturing research and development, including critical technologies like robotics, AI-augmented vision systems, autonomous material handling and manufacturing software.

Clarios views those technologies as key to improving its battery production network and energy storage capabilities for the years ahead.

"As vehicle technology advances, vehicles are becoming software dependent ... those vehicles require more input from the low voltage network," Downie said. "Part of the $6 billion, there's $1 billion we've set aside to come up with new types of batteries to be able to serve those vehicles."

The company is actively working to identify a location and hopes to make a decision by the by the end of the year.

The facility is one part of Clarios' $6 billion plan, which includes a massive $1 billion critical minerals processing and recovery plant, which is likely to be located in either Indiana, Texas and Utah, the company's first in the U.S.

"Keeping the battery components and the critical minerals that are in those batteries in the U.S., in our supply chain is very important," he said.

The processing plant will utilize advanced technologies to extract antimony and other minerals from recycled materials for use in defense and military production, boosting the country's supply of critical minerals and reducing its dependence on foreign sources.

Antimony is central to the production of advanced technologies like night vision goggles, infrared sensors, precision optics and even ammunition.