Ventilex USA opens new office in Middletown
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
MIDDLETOWN — As far as one company is concerned, Middletown is at the heart of it all.
Dutch company Ventilex USA chose to open its new office in the city's Greentree Industrial Park for several reasons, but one big pull was the area's optimal location, said Henk Dijkman, the managing director for the company's Holland operations and vice president of the new location in Middletown.
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"We picked a good place in Ohio for doing our type of work," Dijkman said. "Middletown is almost in the middle of the country, really, and it gives good access to our customers across the country and a good hub for flights out for international business. You can fly right to Amsterdam near here."
Dijkman said there is also excellent access to an educated work force needed to design and sell their products.
The new 10,000-square-foot facility currently houses seven engineers and sales staff from the company's previous location in West Chester Twp., Dijkman said.
Employees will sell industrial machinery such as fluid bed dryers and coolers primarily used by the food, dairy, pharmaceutical and aggregate industries. Dijkman said the products will be tested and some of the assembly done in the Middletown facility before the items are sent to customers.
Although the office just celebrated its opening last Friday, May 30, the company already has its eye on expanding across its 8.5-acre lot.
"If it was up to me we would begin expanding tomorrow," said Tom Schroeder, president and CEO of Ventilex USA.
The company has already drawn up preliminary plans to add a possible manufacturing facility across five acres and use the remaining land for additional office space, Schroeder said.
Part of the incentive plan offered by the city to Ventilex to expand in Middletown included a 65 percent, 10-year tax abatement worth more than $79,000 over the term. The city stipulated Ventilex bring 24 new jobs to their facility at 4640 Emerald Way within the next three years, said Bill Murphy, economic development director.
Dijkman said that shouldn't be an issue since a history of good business is what laid the groundwork for expansion.
"The (American) dollar is cheap right now so maybe that means it's the right time and place for production here," he said.
"We bought this spot so we could expand it. People should know we are here for the future, not for the short term."
