Signature Associates

New production facility expected to create 135 jobs in Defiance

The Regional Growth Partnership has announced a new $49-million Defiance manufacturing facility expected to start operations early next year.

APackaging Group (APG), an Azusa, Calif.-based cosmetics packaging company, is expected to hire 135 people to produce up to 500 million plastic dispensing pumps for the health and beauty industries at the new facility, the Northwest Ohio economic development organization said in a prepared statement Monday.

The announcement came after the Ohio Tax Credit Authority earlier Monday approved a job-creation tax credit for the company, which also received a $2.6 million loan and a $565,000 grant from JobsOhio, the state’s private, nonprofit economic development corporation, to assist in the building’s development.

As it searched for its first U.S. manufacturing facility, the company looked for a rural community with a strong labor force and community support, according to the statement.

“We found that here,” said John Allen, APG’s vice president of operations, “plus, logistically, we have U.S. 24 right near the facility and a rail spur backside, giving us a great asset in purchasing power for raw materials.”

“APG Packaging could have chosen to put this factory anywhere in the world, but they chose Ohio,” Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said in a statement. “This facility will [move] on-shore manufacturing from China to Defiance, serving as an example to the world of the competitive advantages of moving operations from overseas to Ohio.”

The 80,000-square-foot spec building was built by NAI Harmon Group, a northwest Ohio commercial real estate brokerage.

Mr. Allen expects to begin operations at the Defiance location in the first quarter of 2022.

“APG Packaging’s decision to establish its first manufacturing facility in Ohio is an example of the momentum Ohio is building to attract new businesses,” said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and chief executive officer. “We look forward to working with APG Packaging as it on-shores 135 high-paying jobs to Defiance.”

Posted By: The Toledo Blade on October 5, 2021.  For more information, please click here to read the source article.

To receive the In The Know from Signature Associates, please click here to be added to our mailing list.