WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Italian technology manufacturer Modula says its next plant will be built in Ohio, a $26 million investment in what it called a prime location that will make it easier to sell products in the U.S.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said that the deal was a long time coming.

“We welcome the company to Ohio,” DeWine said Tuesday after he announced the deal at the SelectUSA Investment Summit for foreign business leaders in Washington, D.C. “Ohio is great place to do business, a great place to raise family and a great place to live and I’m very excited about it.”

Modula CEO Antonia Pagano said the new plant in Franklin, Ohio, would create about 100 jobs.

“We are absolutely excited,” Pagano said. “The U.S. economy is booming as everyone knows. We decided this was the right investment to make in this particular moment.”

DeWine couldn’t specify what type of wages would be available, but said he believes that thanks to a recent investment in workforce skills training, the jobs will be easily filled by locals.

“We are Ohioans,” he said. “We get up in the morning and we go to work. And for companies who come into the state of Ohio, I think that, frankly, is our biggest asset.”

But ahead of the announcement, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, issued sharp criticism.

“More power if to the governor if he can can get another company to come in here, but let’s particularly fight for the company that are already in the state,” Brown said.

He said that means fighting to bring back thousands of jobs to the shuttered General Motors plant in Lordstown. A potential deal with an electric truck startup could return 400 jobs to the plant.

“I look at them as separate things,” DeWine, a Republican, said.

He’s cautious about the Lordstown deal, saying his goal at the end of the day his goal is to bring back as many jobs as possible.

He hopes Modula is the first of many foreign companies to make the Buckeye State their home and used the summit to work to attract more businesses. He’ll also be traveling to Japan in September, but said he couldn’t release any details about the trip yet.

“Ohio is open to do business,” DeWine said.