MONEY

MISTRAS Group's short move to add jobs, work in Heath

Kent Mallett
Reporter
  • The company employs 60 in Heath and 130 in Ohio. It hopes to eventually double the Heath workforce.
  • MISTRAS has turned down work of more than 10,000 pounds, but will be able to handle 20,000 pounds.

HEATH — The MISTRAS Group's move next summer will be short in distance but long on influence for the company, its employees, job seekers and the city of Heath.

The global company will move from its facility on the Kaiser Aluminum property to the corner of Kaiser Drive and James Parkway, less than a mile away.

The facility's 60 employees will work in a cleaner, state-of-the-art, $5.2 million facility and eventually have more co-workers.

"We hope to double that (employment) in some time," Mistras Regional Manager Tim Emmenegger said at Monday's groundbreaking ceremony. "The challenge now is to get students at the tech center aware of our business and careers available for them. We're looking for folks."

Emmenegger said it takes one to two years to become qualified, and the Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County is offering classes. Entry-level jobs pay $10 to $13 an hour, he said.

Brian Frye, general manager of the Heath operation, said employees were involved in designing the new building because the layout affects workflow.

"We're really excited about it," Frye said. "Where we are now, there are some limitations. The new building will allow us to expand. We've turned down some work over 10,000 pounds. Now, the cranes will hold up to 20,000 pounds."

The company performs ultrasonic immersion testing of steel and composite material, Emmenegger said. There will be four 10-ton cranes inside the 60,000-square-foot building. And there is room to double the size of the original building.

The Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority, which manages the 450-acre Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center campus, will build the structure and lease it to the company for 15 years.

Rick Platt, executive director of the port authority, said: "We've always known they'd need a new facility someday. This is a company quietly growing on our campus for years, but that quietness ends today. This is getting real. Time to move some dirt."

The port authority bought the land in 2002 and spent about nine months negotiating the agreement.

"It was a bold investment in 2002, and the economy didn't cooperate all those years in between," Platt said.

The project is the largest capital project the port authority has done, Platt said. It issued bonds, purchased by Park National Bank.

The port authority is using Southgate Corp.'s development services team, which includes Jobes-Henderson as the engineer and JBA Architects as the architect.

Emmenegger said the location is ideal because Kaiser is one of its biggest clients, nearby Samuel Strapping is one of its suppliers and it does testing for aerospace companies.

"It's a good fit for what we do," Emmenegger said.

Platt praised the city of Heath for its assistance, including installing a sanitary sewer line to the site and approving a tax exemption.

"When the governor talks about moving at the speed of business, he should be talking about the speed of Heath," Platt said.

Mayor Mark Johns said: "You try to provide a community that business wants to locate and people want to live. You never really know how well you're doing until a company like MISTRAS that had options and decided to stay in Heath."

kmallett@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8545

Twitter: @kmallett1958