“Springfield is a good place to do business for what we do,” said Tom Sothard, company president. “I can hit all major interstates, and I can ship very competitively out of Springfield.”
Sothard said the work force, now numbering 328, is very loyal, a reason the company has chosen to continue investing here.
In addition to having 25 to 40 new full-time jobs in the agricultural building, Konecranes has launched a new product line — a light lifting crane — that could bring even more jobs to its existing facility in Prime Ohio.
“Another product line we recently launched is really taking off,” Sothard said. “I see more opportunities for more jobs.”
Just three years ago, Konecranes built a 24,000-square-foot expansion to its campus.
“I thought it’d take longer to fill it up,” Sothard said, adding that the company has little room to expand farther on campus before it hits the parking lot.
“We’ve been shipping a lot of product out of this plant,” he added.
Konecranes has reached pre-recession levels of business.
“The industry in general is growing like most industrial businesses; it’s picking up steadily,” said Andi Schelkun, communication manager for Konecranes’ Region America.
And according to IBISWorld, an independent publisher of U.S. industry analysis, in the next five years crane manufacturers are expected to completely recover from the recession’s depressed construction activity.
“Demand for cranes has benefited from higher commodity prices, which have led to increased capital expenditure in the mining sector,” said Joe McBee, a crane manufacturing industry analyst for IBISWorld.
“China has been one of the fastest-growing markets for these products,” he said.
Schelkun added that the crane manufacturing industry relies on many types of industries for production and sales. Konecranes provides products for industries such as general manufacturing, steel, automotive, pulp and paper — all of which have varying degrees of growth and change.
The new shared services center will be one of few in the world, Sothard said, and will allow Konecranes to consolidate many of its payroll and administrative services in one place.
Sothard said instead of having three or four people do a job in several U.S. locations, one person can handle it in Springfield.
The decision to lease the agricultural building for these services is an amazing opportunity for Springfield, said Mike McDorman, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.
“We don’t have many companies with a North American headquarters presence,” McDorman said. “As (Konecranes) continues to grow, we want that growth to happen in Springfield.”
He said the new jobs associated with the shared services and global training center are high-paying professional jobs that are difficult for a community to attract.
“And with vendor relations, many of those vendors will come to Springfield every week and come to our hotels and spend money at our establishments,” McDorman said. “It helps stimulate the economy.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0371 or emason@coxohio.com.
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