Northwest Ohio has long been recognized as a leading location for advanced manufacturing. Some of the biggest brand names nationally have operations within this 17-county region. And now, another industry giant is setting up shop here.
TekniPlex Consumer Products, a global leader in the healthcare and consumer products markets, recently celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony in Northwest Ohio.
The company is investing $40 million in a new 200,000 square-foot facility where it will hire at least 100 people to support the new project in Van Wert, Ohio.
“We’ve already hired close to 60 folks, maintenance, operations, supervisors, some warehouse management, pretty much the whole production facility. The energy level and talent … we’ve been very fortunate.”
– Michael Deitz, Vice President, Capital & Corporate Project Management, TekniPlex
TekniPlex also credited the Northwest Ohio work culture and its positive experience doing business here as a key driver in the decision to locate in Van Wert. In addition, the company cited the significance of being located within one of the largest egg-farming states in the nation.
“When we went through the buildup economically on where our choice would be we started with 11 sites,” Deitz said. “We kept working through (the site selection process) and Van Wert kept coming up when it came to electricity, gas, taxes, that type of thing.”
The dedicated specialty molded fiber solutions facility will further expand the company’s capacity and capabilities in this burgeoning, sustainability-minded niche, with a variety of products, including egg cartons. The new Van Wert project is part of the company’s $350 million investment in specialty fiber throughout the Americas.
“This area is very close to a lot of egg packers in the U.S. so we wanted to be in this region, and Ohio really came through and Van Wert specifically with the incentives, the labor pool."
– Jay Arnold, senior vice president for agribusiness, TekniPlex
TekniPlex Consumer Products specializes in advanced materials science solutions for companies in the food & beverage and CPG industries with a focus on protecting products, strengthening brands, and innovating sustainably. TekniPlex Consumer Products serves companies around the world in sectors including beauty and personal care, household items, and food and beverage.
“The new facility will combine TekniPlex’s specialty fiber capabilities with state-of-the-art technology platforms obtained through our recent strategic acquisitions,” said Eldon Schaffer, CEO of TekniPlex Consumer Products. “Notably, the Ohio plant will be our eighth such facility dedicated to molded fiber solutions development and production.”
Headquartered in Wayne, Pa., the company has 7,000 employees with 50 locations across the world. One of those facilities is a global innovation center in Holland, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo.
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