May 12, 2026 · Allen · Boone · Huntington

Eli Lilly Hits $21B in Indiana, Hanjung America Breaks Ground in Huntington, and Fort Wayne's Labor Market Sends a Warning

Q: With manufacturing unemployment claims rising in Allen County even as regional wages climb, how do we know if our compensation and working conditions are strong enough to keep our best people?

Compare your total compensation package: wages, benefits, and scheduling flexibility, against what Fort Wayne's health and service sector employers are currently offering. If you haven't surveyed your workforce on their reasons for staying or leaving in the last six months, that's the place to start before the next quarterly claims data confirms the trend.

Eli Lilly adds $4.5B in Lebanon, Hanjung America breaks ground in Huntington, and Allen County's labor market flashes a warning for Indiana manufacturers.

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Three major developments landed in Indiana manufacturing this week: a $4.5 billion Eli Lilly addition at Lebanon that pushes their total Indiana commitment past $21 billion, a 133-acre energy storage plant breaking ground in Huntington County pointed at the Kokomo EV corridor, and a labor market signal in Allen County that is easy to overlook when the investment headlines are this large. The capital investment wave and the workforce erosion are running on parallel tracks right now, in the same region, competing for the same labor pool.

01Boone

Eli Lilly Lebanon Adds $4.5B, API Factory Will Be the Largest in U.S. History

On Wednesday, Lilly announced an additional $4.5 billion across two sites at the LEAP Innovation and Research District in Boone County. The first site is an active pharmaceutical ingredient factory set to open next year.

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02Huntington

Hanjung America Breaks Ground in Huntington, 440 Jobs Pointed at the Kokomo EV Corridor

South Korean energy storage company Hanjung America, a subsidiary of Hanjung NCS, officially broke ground on its first U.S. manufacturing facility this week at the River Fork West Industrial Park in Huntington County. The 133-acre site at 2018 Progress Drive is purpose-built to manufacture advanced energy storage systems.

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03Allen

Manufacturing Unemployment Claims Rising in Allen County, Even as Wages Climb

Manufacturing workers in Allen County and Fort Wayne are now filing unemployment insurance claims at the highest rate in the region. This trend has been building since at least April, when TEG Daily first covered a 1.28% year-over-year decline in Northeast Indiana manufacturing employment.

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Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: With manufacturing unemployment claims rising in Allen County even as regional wages climb, how do we know if our compensation and working conditions are strong enough to keep our best people? A: Compare your total compensation package, wages, benefits, and scheduling flexibility, against what Fort Wayne's health and service sector employers are currently offering. If you haven't surveyed your workforce on their reasons for staying or leaving in the last six months, that's the place to start before the next quarterly claims data confirms the trend.

Q: Eli Lilly's Lebanon build-out is now over $21 billion and the API factory opens next year, how do we find out if there are supplier opportunities available to our facility? A: The IEDC has not yet disclosed Lilly's incentive package details, but procurement and supplier qualification cycles are running independently of that announcement. If your firm is in construction, industrial equipment, specialty materials, or logistics in central Indiana, direct outreach to Lilly's procurement and facilities teams at LEAP is the action item, not waiting for a public announcement.

Q: Hanjung America's Huntington plant feeds directly into the StarPlus Energy gigafactory in Kokomo, does our facility have any path into that supply chain? A: Start by mapping whether your products or capabilities align with energy storage system manufacturing or the broader EV component supply chain. Existing relationships through Stellantis or Samsung SDI in Kokomo are your best entry points. With operations starting June 2027, supplier qualification activity ramps through late 2026, the window is open but not indefinitely.

Watch this TEG Daily on YouTube for the full breakdown of all three stories.

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