MARION, Ind. -- A Wisconsin-based plastics packaging manufacturer announced Thursday that it planned to open a manufacturing operation in part of a closed Thomson television picture tube plant.

TriEnda LLC officials said they expected the company to start production at the site in December and hire at least 340 people by 2012.

"Three-hundred and 40 good paying jobs is a good thing anywhere, anytime, but in a very weak economy like this, it sends an especially positive signal, and in Marion a town that's taken so many hits for so long," said Gov. Mitch Daniels.

The Portage, Wis.-based company makes and distributes heavy- to light-duty shipping containers and packaging materials. It plans to spend more than $20 million on a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center in the former Thomson plant.

Marion officials have worked for years to find new occupants for the plant, where about 1,000 people worked when Thomson closed it in 2004. Their efforts were complicated by a 2007 fire accidentally started by salvage workers that leveled about 250,000 square feet of the 1 million-square-foot plant.

"It was kind of the building that broke the city's back, so to have another company come in who says, 'We believe in your workforce, your city,' it's a great day for our community," said Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered TriEnda up to $1.85 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $130,000 in training grants. The state will also give the city of Marion a grant of up to $325,000 to improve rail access to the site.