An Edinburgh manufacturer is promising to create 32 new jobs with an average wage of $21.22 an hour.
Georg Utz, Inc., located north of the Indiana Premium Outlets on County Road 250 West, will make what project manager Kristen Goecker described as “a $27 million total possible investment.”
About $15.1 million will be spent on an 87,000 square feet expansion that will house, among other things, a technical area and employee facilities, Goecker said. The remaining $11.5 million will be for new manufacturing equipment that handles both logistics and information technology, she said.
The family-owned Swiss company manufactures returnable plastic containers, pallets, component holders and custom solutions.
Since becoming a local employer in 2003, Georg Utz, Inc. has made at least six tax abatement requests, which usually involve a gradual phasing-in of real and property taxes over a 10-year period. Their building is in a prime location to receive such incentives because their facility is in both a previously designated allocation area and an economic revitalization area.
But what makes Georg Utz, Inc. most impressive to elected Bartholomew County officials is their impressive track record after receiving a tax break.
“They have done everything (promised) and more,” Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said. “They are just a very, very high-quality employer.”
His praise of the manufacturer was echoed by Commissioners chairman Tony London.
“In all their previous applications for abatements, they have hit all the stops,” London said.
Last February, the Edinburgh manufacturer said they would add 34 new jobs after spending $22.3 million on new equipment, as well as $950,000 for additional office space. That would have brought the total employment to 215 employees.
Nine months later, the company is up to 218 workers – three more than promised, Goecker said.
On Monday morning, the abatement request was unanimously approved by the county commissioners.
While the final word comes from the seven-member Bartholomew County Council, their members have also frequently cited Georg Utz, Inc. as an exceptional company that keeps its employment promises.
Along with the company’s facilities in Edinburgh, the company has manufacturing plants in Switzerland, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, China and Mexico.
By Mark Webber ofThe Columbus Republic, a sister newspaper to the Daily Journal.
