Creating the Future, Preserving the Past: Manufacturers Expand into Northern Kentucky

The reasons Mike Nowak’s Wisconsin-based company opened its first out-of-state location in Northern Kentucky started to add up.

Nowak, president of Coating

Excellence International, a flexible packaging company, was enthusiastic about the central location in the eastern half of the nation and, when compared to its home state, closer to customers in the Southeast.

Plus, he liked the economic climate, quality and available labor, and, of course, the local incentives for relocation.

Add in the fact that the Gateway Community and Technical College’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing is destined to be a great resource, and it was a match made in heaven … or Northern Kentucky.

CEI has been in Hebron since March and is slated for 24-hour operation in the future.

“When looking at the opportunity for expansion, Kentucky was a logical fit,” Nowak said.

CEI is one of seven firms which have come to or expanded in Northern Kentucky recently. Gov. Steve Beshear praised all seven companies last month for the steps taken that will lead to the creation of 404 new jobs and a total capital investment of more than $28.4 million.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approved six of the companies for state tax incentives through various programs, including the Kentucky Business Investment program, High-Tech Investment Pool and the Kentucky Industrial Development Act.

“The Northern Kentucky region has built a reputation for excellence based on its workforce, quality of industry and quality of life, and these new economic development announcements reflect this positive business environment,” Beshear said. “These seven new and expanding manufacturers will also benefit from their proximity to the new Center for Advanced Manufacturing, which is expected to train as many as 10,000 workers and 400 companies annually by 2015. The center is yet another example of the importance the Commonwealth places on advanced manufacturing and related fields.”

Boone County Judge Executive and Northern Kentucky Tri-ED Board of Directors Chairman Gary Moore points out government does not create jobs, companies create jobs. “However, government and the local community must help to foster a business-friendly environment that encourages positive economic growth,” he said.

Like Nowak, Mike Hyslop of Jacobs Automation is glad for the support described by Beshear and Moore. About a month ago Hyslop’s company, which specializes in technology for packaging, converting, material handling, and automated assembly functions, relocated to Hebron.

“We moved to Kentucky because of funding, and because about half our customers are from Europe, and the new location is near the airport,” Hyslop said.

Hyslop described Boone County as “very business friendly” and said because of the recent economic turbulence, “there are very good leases” in the area.

Hyslop said any company considering locating should consider Northern Kentucky.

John McCullough is an executive with InnoMark Communications, which last year made several acquisitions, among them a screen-printing business in Edgewood, Kentucky. He agrees about the benefits of Northern Kentucky’s location.

“The geographic proximity is really wonderful,” McCullough said. InnoMark also has centrally located sites in Springboro and Vandalia, Ohio, and Richmond, Indiana.

The screen printing facilities of the Northern Kentucky site have a great logistical asset in the ability to transfer materials from there to Fairfield, about 40 minutes away, which benefits the company, McCullough said.

InnoMark has long-term expectations for growth and the Northern Kentucky site offers that ability, he said.

Northern Kentucky also makes sense for Zumbiel Packaging. This manufacturer of paperboard consumer packaging is moving its headquarters and the remainder of its manufacturing operations to Hebron. Zumbiel will build a 180,000-square-foot facility right next to its existing 320,000-square-foot space.

Also factoring into the local economic development equation is Diversified Structural Composites, an Erlanger, Kentucky, manufacturer of pultruded fiberglass and carbon fiber composite components. The company is consolidating two operations into a larger 96,000-square-foot facility.

Hahn Automation, a Hebron, Kentucky, supplier of custom automation equipment serving the automotive, household and pharmaceutical industries, is building a 25,000-square-foot building on a five-acre site.

And Parkway Products is expanding its Erlanger, Kentucky, aerospace and defense components facility from 55,686-square-feet to over 110,000-square-feet. In a news release posted on the company’s web site, President/CEO Joe Klunk praised the plant’s workforce for its high marks in quality and productivity. He also recognized Kentucky “for providing economic incentives to make the project possible.”