Polymer-Wood Technologies, a manufacturer of fire-rated commercial doors, will invest $23 million to open a production facility in Lamar, Missouri, according to the Joplin Globe. Company officials tell the Globe that they will hire 100 people initially, with local residents given preferential treatment, and hope to increase employment to between 400 and 500 workers when the plant is fully operational. Polymer-Wood will lease a 1.2 million-square-foot facility formerly used by O'Sullivan Industries, a furniture manufacturer that closed in 2007, leaving more than 700 people out of work; the company will spend $20 million on production equipment and $3 million to rehabilitate the property. This will be Polymer-Wood's first production plant. Evan Daniels, the company's president and CEO, tells the Globe that the company has hired local residents to
help with the engineering and architectural evaluation of the property,
and that manufacturing equipment will be ordered when that process is
completed."I would say we hope to be in full production within a few years," he says. "We are going to spread out and use all of the building. It allows us to grow and have room."
