Among its top projects for 2007, Amylin Pharmaceuticals is expanding its manufacturing operation in West Chester, Butler County, and state sources say 500 new jobs are being created. The $400 million project provides extra capacity for manufacturing a diabetes drug that is in clinical development. BioOhio, the state’s bioscience development organization, helped convince Amylin to expand in the state.
Parts for the high-temperature turbines of aircraft engines will be manufactured at a $32.8 million facility PCC Airfoils is building in Painesville. Ohio was chosen over Georgia and Oregon for the 96,000-square-foot facility, which will create some 150 jobs. The company has received a $952,824 tax credit over a 10-year term.
Avon Products has chosen Washington Township in Muskingum County for a $115 million distribution center. The 590,000-square-foot facility will handle distribution for 50 percent of its U.S. sales and will replace existing operations in Illinois and Delaware. Avon received a 55 percent tax credit worth about $1.6 million for an eight-year term to establish the distribution center.
Pennsylvania — With a GDP of $510 billion, Pennsylvania has the seventeenth-largest economy in the world. With a $2.8 billion economic stimulus package, Pennsylvania has been highly effective in attracting corporate investment, especially from foreign companies. Pennsylvania has also passed more than $2 billion in business tax reductions since 2004.
Resperonics, a medical equipment manufacturer, is expanding in the state by constructing a 165,000-square-foot facility to produce sleep-therapy devices. Located in Upper Burrell Township, the new plant is only a few miles from the company’s headquarters in Murrysville. “This facility will enable us to further support our obstructive sleep apnea business, a core growth driver of the company,” says president John L. Miclot. “It also offers the potential for high-volume material logistics.”
A new headquarters and battery plant is being built in Lyons Station by East Penn Manufacturing Co. The $130 million endeavor will result in least 500 new jobs. The state of Pennsylvania has promised $21.4 million, which will leverage $108 million in private investment.
Pennsylvania’s central location in the eastern United States also makes it a favorable location for distribution facilities. Texas-based McLane Co.’s new $53 million, 400,000-square-foot grocery distribution facility in Jessup is utilizing a $525,000 funding package that includes $225,000 in customized job-training funds.