Home products manufacturer Masco Corp. is reporting a surge in interest in its jobs among talented job seekers after the firm last fall established the headquarters of its cabinetry division in Ann Arbor Township.

Masco consolidated its KraftMaid division in Ohio and its Merillat division in Adrian into the 150,000-square-foot former Flint Ink building in Ann Arbor Township. The company identified the Ann Arbor region’s talent base as a key reason for making the move.

Some 350 employees are already working at the new headquarters for the Masco Cabinetry division, and another 150 will be added over the next few years, the company has said.

“It’s been a very good opportunity for us,” Masco CEO Tim Wadhams said this morning at an Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber of Commerce event. “The quality of resumes that we’ve been able to receive has gone up significantly because of being in Ann Arbor. We’re very happy about that.”

Masco’s decision to establish a presence in Washtenaw County came in the wake of a serious contraction in the construction and renovation products market during the economic crisis.

Masco’s revenue slipped from $12.5 billion in 2006 to $7.8 billion in 2009 as the housing market collapsed and homeowners stopped investing in renovations. The firm (NYSE: MAS) responded by cutting its workforce from 55,000 at its peak to 27,000 today, Wadhams said.

“Obviously those are not fun, but certainly actions we had to take under the circumstances,” he said.

Wadhams said the economic crisis forced Masco to innovate and deliver new products.

“Our approach to dealing with the downturn has been to really balance managing the cost side but also really treating it as an opportunity to invest in the business and position ourselves for the recovery,” he said.

Still, Wadhams said Masco was “premature in anticipating the recovery.”

Part of the company’s response to the economic crisis was to foster corporate cultural change, Wadhams said.

The move to Ann Arbor Township was designed to accomplish that shift, he said.

Masco received a tax credit from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and a tax abatement from Ann Arbor Township to support its plan.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.