MUNCIE — Italian manufacturer Brevini Power Transmission will bring 455 high-paying jobs to East Central Indiana in the next three years, drawing upon the region’s skilled work force.

Brevini founder and CEO Renato Brevini will locate his company’s U.S. headquarters to Delaware County’s Park One Business Park at the Interstate 69/Indiana 332 interchange, a $62 million investment in the area. The corporate offices and yet-to-be-built manufacturing facility will bring jobs averaging $46,000 a year to the area.

“There’s not a more promising sign for our future than when a great company like Brevini surveys its options and picks Hoosiers,” Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said at a news conference Wednesday announcing the jobs. “There was tough competition, spirited competition within our state. I’m glad Muncie won. Making high-quality gears is something Muncie has a history of.”

Brevini’s planned 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, which will begin construction in 2009, will make gear boxes for wind turbines throughout the world. The company has several German customers and is working on agreements with U.S. and Canadian customers to sell its gear boxes.

The Delaware County plant will need workers for turning, grinding, heat treatment, engineering, assembly line and other skilled blue-collar and basic mechanical jobs to be available starting at the end of 2009. Before that, Brevini will look for about 50 employees for its corporate offices.

The new facility will be able to handle the creation of 1,000 gear boxes a year, which will expand its current U.S. operations, Renato Brevini said.

“We are very satisfied with our Brevini USA subsidiary, and we want to expand,” he said.

Muncie and Delaware County community leaders and politicians packed the Park One warehouse, where Brevini will make its corporate headquarters for the announcement Wednesday.

“In the midst of troubled times in the American economy, hope springs from the heartland,” U.S. Rep. Mike Pence said. “The selection of Delaware County and east central Indiana for this wonderful new facility is mostly a credit to the people of East Central Indiana.”

John Brooke, president of Delaware County’s Board of Commissioners, promised Brevini the company would not regret its decision to locate in Muncie.

“Our skill and our workers’ abilities will meet your expectations and satisfy your customers,” he said to Renato Brevini.

Incentives from Delaware County included $1.425 million in local economic development income tax funds, $1.6 million in tax increment financing and $1.9 million in infrastructure improvements, including a rail improvement. The state kicked in $3.9 million in Hoosier business investment tax credits, $300,000 in job training assistance in partnership with Ivy Tech Community College and infrastructure development assistance.

Daniels said Brevini’s investment in Muncie was a sign that Indiana could be a leader in alternative energy.

“This is exactly what we seek to do to be leaders in the business of tomorrow,” he said. “This will be a landmark moment in Indiana’s economic comeback.”

But Jason Tomcsi, press secretary for Indiana governor candidate Jill Long Thompson, said the new jobs were more the exception than the rule in Indiana.

“While it’s great to see this development, there’s a lot of Hoosiers out there hurting now because of the policies of Mitch Daniels,” Tomcsi said, mentioning Delaware County’s 7.2 percent unemployment rate and Madison County’s 7.6 percent rate.

----------

Brevini jobs

— 455 jobs: 50 in corporate headquarters, 405 in manufacturing plant

— Most jobs available in late 2009

— Average pay: $46,000

— Annual payroll: $20.9 million

— Types of jobs: design engineers, application engineers, gear technicians, managers, customer service, warehouse, mechanical technicians, human resource, accounting, office and more

-----------

How to apply: Most jobs won’t be available until late 2009 after plant construction has begun. To apply for positions in the corporate office, contact Barbara Street in the Eastern Indiana Regional Workforce Board at (765) 282-6400.

-----------

About Brevini

— Headquartered in Italy, operates a North American headquarters and distribution plant in Chicago

— Specializes in designing gears for wind turbine energy generation and other low-speed, high-torque applications

— Founded in 1960 by three Brevini brothers, entered U.S. market in 1970

— Annual revenue of more than $600 million globally