Oct. 7—Decatur's Toray Composite Materials America facility is getting a $15 million upgrade that a local official said solidifies the company's presence in Decatur and Morgan County.

The company announced Thursday from its Tacoma, Washington, headquarters that it plans to double the production capacity for the high-performance carbon fiber Torayca T1100 at the plant on Alabama 20 in Decatur's police jurisdiction.

Work on the upgrade is scheduled to begin in April and be finished by September 2023, a Toray news release says.

The planned upgrade will increase capacity and production of the material in the Decatur plant but it will not impact employment, Toray spokeswoman Karen Lago said.

Jeremy Nails, executive director of the Morgan County Economic Development Association, said the Toray project may not involve additional employees but it is good for the area that the company is adding flexibility to the Decatur facility.

"They know this is a good place to do business and, instead of doing the upgrades elsewhere, they're doing it here in Decatur-Morgan County," Nails said.

Nails said the project would not qualify for abatements of state, county or city property and sales taxes.

The news release says the upgrade will increase availability and shorten the lead-time for the next-generation Torayca T1100 as demand for it in defense applications in the United States rises.

The Torayca T1100 carbon fiber is a critical component in several U.S. Department of Defense weapon systems, as well as structural applications in Future Vertical Lift platforms, the company said.

The upgrade is also meant to duplicate critical components or functions in the plant's systems to increase reliability.

"We're very excited about adding capacity and flexibility at our Decatur plant for our defense customers," said Dennis Frett, president of Toray Composite Materials America.

Toray is the largest producer of carbon fiber in the United States.

The Decatur plant has operation lines from precursor to carbon fiber and is one of three Toray manufacturing facilities. The company also has locations in Tacoma, Washington, and Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Toray's carbon fiber composite materials are used by aerospace, defense, industrial and automotive customers.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.