Avure Technologies Inc.
What: Swedish manufacturer of high pressure technology and equipment for advanced metals, to form sheet metal and to pasteurize foods
Where: Will open first manufacturing plant in the Americas in Middletown at Midd Cities Industrial Park, 2601 S. Verity Pkwy.
Director of Food Operations: Mark Morgan
Website: www.avure.com
Jobs: 30 new jobs
Covering the economy
This story is part of this newspaper’s ramped-up coverage on jobs, income and spending to help you better understand our local economy.
A high-tech food equipment manufacturer has picked Middletown to open its first plant in the Americas and wants to start production of the machines before the end of the year.
Avure Technologies Inc. has signed a 10-year lease for a 53,000-square-foot building located in the Midd Cities Industrial Park, 2601 S. Verity Pkwy. The Swedish company will initially create 30 new jobs generating nearly $2 million in additional payroll to the city.
The company will invest more than $3 million in building renovations and equipment purchases, said Mark Morgan, director of food operations for Avure, who is in Middletown preparing for the opening. The equipment Avure makes is used to pasteurize food with high pressure processing.
The high-paying jobs include production technicians and supervisors, engineers, material purchasers and customer service representatives. Estimates from the city are for hires to be paid an average $65,000 a year.
Avure Technologies joins a growing class of advanced manufacturing companies in the region.
“They’re bringing this production over from Europe, so it’s a fantastic win…For Middletown, we’re adding an advanced manufacturing company in a town that’s really into chemicals and steel, so it gives them an additional company in an additional sector,” said Dave Burrows, director of economic development programs for Dayton Development Coalition.
Under the state’s business attraction and retention agency JobsOhio, Dayton Development Coalition leads economic development activities for the region that includes Middletown. Cincinnati USA Partnership leads economic development south of Ohio 63.
While 30 jobs may not sound like a lot, these are high paying, high-skilled jobs, and more job creation is happening 30 jobs at a time, Burrows said.
“You will see more companies in the 25 to 100 jobs rather than the 500 to 2,000 jobs, although we’re trying to get those,” he said. But new job announcements for more than 500 positions at a time are “few and far between.”
The food business is growing and Avure is looking to build its business by opening a manufacturing site closer to its customers, Morgan said. Doing so shortens delivery and lead times. Most of Avure’s customers are located in the Americas, also its fastest-growing market.
Currently Avure makes all its food processing equipment in Sweden.
“It’s exciting for me because in my 25-, 30-year career in manufacturing, a lot of it’s been about cost reduction and usually that means ‘let’s get out of the U.S.,’” Morgan said.
“This is the first time in my career where it’s been the other direction. Let’s bring jobs in the U.S. and these aren’t jobs that left the U.S. previously and they’re just now coming back. There’s a lot of that going on,” he said. “These are jobs that have never been in the U.S.”
Avure also has another division that uses high pressure technology for sheet metal forming and advanced materials. Avure also has a U.S. headquarters office in Franklin, Tenn., and offices in Columbus and Erie, Penn., under the industrial division.
Business is growing in the food division because “this technology is a way to make food fresh without chemicals, without heat. It enables food to last longer on the shelf. America is getting healthier…there’s a lot more attention paid to the quality of food,” Morgan said.
Avure’s equipment exerts pressure on food that is greater pressure than on the bottom of the ocean floor. It ruptures cell walls of microorganisms in food to keep them from growing, which prevents food decay. The high pressure can make something that used to last two weeks last six weeks, for example, which lets food manufacturing customers of Avure ship food further distances.
Avure says it is the global leader in making this equipment.
“The business year-after-year continues to grow and that’s why we’re making this investment,” Morgan said. “We’re sizing this facility for growth.”
For the past 6-7 months, the company conducted a site search looking at factors such as logistics, energy costs, business taxes and available facilities, he said. Every major city “east of the Mississippi” River was considered, and the company narrowed its choices to Ohio, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved incentives March 25 for Avure of a 40 percent, six-year tax credit, valued at more than $200,000.
On Tuesday, Middletown City Council also approved a 7-year, 40 percent income tax grant worth an estimated $95,000 in savings.
Denise Hamet, Middletown economic development director, told council Tuesday that the 10-year lease signifies the company’s long-term commitment to Middletown.
“That’s a very strong indication they’re here to stay and here to grow,” Hamet said.
Jobs will be posted on the company’s website, www.avure.com, as soon as next week.
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