Venture Products, Inc., makers of Ventrac tractors and attachments, has announced plans to build a new $7 million plant and become the first tenant in Orrville’s new industrial park.
The company made the announcement to its employees on Friday, saying it plans to move forward with a multi-phased project immediately, contingent upon receiving an incentives package from both Ohio and Orrville. On Monday both those packages received approval.
The planned construction project over a period of four years would consolidate the activities of Venture Products’ two manufacturing operations in Orrville. Now, a 33,000-square-foot plant on Church Road handles engineering, development, fabrication and cutting, while a second 37,000-square-foot plant on Water Street houses assembly, powder painting, administrative offices and parts warehousing and shipping.
Randy Kitzmiller, director of operations, said the goal is to unite the operations of the two facilities under one roof, thereby gaining efficiencies of operation and subsequent cost savings.
“It’s exciting for a local company with local ownership to make a decision to grow its business in Orrville,” said Mike Hedberg, director of Orrville development.
Hedberg said he gives “a lot of credit” to city officials for pursuing a vision of a second industrial park that would not only attract new manufacturing to Orrville but also allow existing businesses to grow here.
“It’s proving to be a real asset,” said Hedberg, noting that Venture Products has narrowed its choice of location for the new plant to two parcels and anticipates purchasing between 15 and 20 acres of the 75-acre business technology park.
Kitzmiller said Venture Products, which began manufacturing the Ventrac line in 1998 after making agricultural equipment for the previous decade, is currently marketing its products in a dozen countries, and at present its future appears to be going straight up.
In 2009, Kitzmiller said, the company began implementing a new sales and marketing strategy that immediately resulted in a double-digit sales increase in 2010 and 2011. Kitzmiller said the company believes the strategy will allow the company to continue at that level of success for at least another five years, barring global economic turmoil.
So sharp has been the sales increase, that at first company officials didn’t realize how successful the company was. But
six months ago, Kitzmiller said, Ventrac realized it was “busting at the seams” because “sales keep coming in.”
“It’s an awesome problem to have,” Kitzmiller conceded.
At that point the company began working on plans for a brand new manufacturing facility, initially testing the waters in other states for possible sites as they went through the “due diligence” process. “But our number one goal was always to stay here, because this is where our employees are, and we care about our employees,” said Kitzmiller.
Kitzmiller said that when the company began working with the city on a possible location for the new plant, it found exceptional cooperation.
“Orrville did an awesome job,” said Kitzmiller. “Mike Hedberg is amazing. Staying in Orrville was a very easy decision for us.”
Kitzmiller said Venture Products plans to begin the first phase of its project in the spring, starting work on a plant that is still in the design phase, but which is expected to be between 50,000 and 60,000 square feet. That plant, expected to take about two years to complete, will house what is now the Church Road operation.
Phase two is planned to commence in 2014 and would be a second building encompassing between 50,000 and 60,000
square feet. It would house production now being done in the Water Street plant and be completed in 2015.
Kitzmiller said the exact amount of land needed remains up in the air, but said the land would be purchased from the city
in advance of the construction projects.
Kitzmiller said an advantage of doing the project in a multi-phased manner is that if the global economy sours, Venture Products could put off building the later phase of the plant until economic conditions improve.
In asking city council Monday night to approve a resolution authorizing the safety-service director to provide for job creation income tax credit for the company, Kitmiller said Venture Products envisions adding another 33 employees to its present 85 over the next three years.
Safety Service Director Steve Wheeler said those jobs would translate into $1,026,600 in new payroll taxes for the city and $10,266 in new income tax. Wheeler said the job creation tax credit would translate into $6,159 over the six-year life of the agreement.
“This is exciting,” said Hedberg. “An announcement like this is a great Christmas gift to this community. It continues the positive momentum we have from local companies continuing to grow, like Will-Burt, Bekaert and the J.M. Smucker Co. We are very fortunate here.”
Kitzmiller said that employees at Venture Products were shocked and “very excited” by last week’s announcement.
“They knew the company was doing well, but I don’t think they knew just how well,” said Kitzmiller. “They knew that one
day we wanted to bring all the operations under one roof, but they didn’t know that day was coming so soon. Now it’s here.”