The first production run at Hydro-Gear’s new plant in the Caldwell County Industrial Park is scheduled to begin Monday, Nov. 14.

When it does, Caldwell-Lyon Partnership CEO Jim Moore said Tuesday, the community will begin to reap the economic benefits of the company’s arrival.

Moore addressed a crowd of about 50 at the Partnership’s third annual meeting, held Tuesday night at the tourist welcome center on East Main Street.

Hydro-Gear officials were not present for the meeting, citing time constraints during the company’s busy season, Moore said.

The company, though, will start its first production in Princeton on Nov. 14, less than a month away, he said.

The first assembly cell for the plant, a manufacturer of lawn and garden industry parts and equipment, was installed here last week, Moore said.

The production will run, he said, despite the fact that work on the plant’s location, in the industrial park’s spec building, is not yet complete.

“They are that serious about meeting these production goals,” he said.

Hydro-Gear will soon take a group of Princeton-area employees to its Sullivan, Ill., headquarters to learn production methods for application locally.

When they return, and the company’s full production schedule begins here, the company will be responsible for the lion’s share of a projected $12 million boost to the local economy next year, Moore said.

Hydro-Gear is expected to create about 150 new jobs altogether in its Princeton plant.

Getting the company here, Moore said, took a recruitment effort involving close to 6 months of time, four or five trips to Illinois, 178 phone calls and 311 e-mails.

An e-mail read aloud from Mike Todd, Hydro-Gear’s vice president of operations, indicated the company’s pleasure in its pending local launch and place in the county’s industrial sector.

“This is a company that I think is really going to go places,” Moore said.

• Hydro-Gear’s decision to expand its production facilities to Princeton was a highlight in the Partnership’s yearly activities.

“2005 has been a year with a lot of fun in it,” Moore said. “This year has been fantastic. We’ve delivered on a promise that was offered three years ago when the Partnership was begun.”

The Caldwell-Lyon community has seen a 3.5 percent net job growth in the past year, the second year in a row growth has occurred, he added.

The Partnership met this year with four companies in manufacturing and service fields.

Two committed to opening facilities in the area: Hydro-Gear and TWI, a 20-job organization in Kuttawa.

Another project, with the potential for 70 jobs and a $20 million economic investment, is still pending, Moore added.

The Partnership has also submitted information on the area industrial community to eight companies in the automotive and distribution fields.

The distribution sector, in particular, should see the area as ideal, since it is accessible by river, road and rail, he said.

Those eight organizations would mean 1,000 potential jobs and a potential investment of $300 million.

“With the right situations and the right intangibles falling in place, we’ve got a good shot at some of those,” he said.

The Partnership also held talks with 27 site location consultants to keep the Caldwell-Lyon area’s name visible to industries across the nation, he added.

In addition to its work to recruit new businesses, the Partnership also labored to assist existing industries as they expand, said Moore.