{"id":167323,"date":"2023-06-22T03:50:04","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T08:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=167323"},"modified":"2023-06-23T03:58:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T08:58:46","slug":"groundbreaking-ceremony-held-for-former-project-hulk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/06\/22\/groundbreaking-ceremony-held-for-former-project-hulk\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaking ceremony held in VW"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local and state officials gathered with representatives from Van Wert\u2019s newest employer, TekniPlex, for a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For months, it was referred to as \u201cProject Hulk\u201d while the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation, along with city, county and schools officials ironed out details and incentives, including tax breaks and an extension of Vision Drive at Vision Industrial Park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Local officials and TekniPlex officials broke ground for the company’s new facility in Van Wert. Scott Truxell photos<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

TekniPlex is in the process of building a $17.5 million, 200,000 square foot facility and once complete, the plant will produce egg cartons made of specialty molded fibers. During the ceremony, Eldon Schafer, CEO, TekniPlex Consumer Products, laid out the company’s plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are the largest egg carton producer in the United States and Mexico and we\u2019re the only one who produces in all major substrates \u2013 plastic and PET and now in molded fiber,\u201d he said. \u201cOver the past 18 months, we\u2019ve brought three unique companies together to partner with us to where we supply and focus on material science solutions\u2026we have customer insight, we have consumer insight and we have really created a powerhouse of solutions capabilities for our customers in the egg carton market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have developed a new fiber solution that will perform stronger and provide more superior egg protection in order to reduce food waste and costs so that we can help our customers win in the marketplace,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re really thrilled to have the people in Van Wert and people in the State of Ohio to help fill our factory with passionate, results-oriented employees so that we can all be successful together. We\u2019re extremely grateful and extremely appreciative of all of the people that have helped make this a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Egg cartons such as these will be produced in Van Wert.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The company has seven other specialty fiber plants in the United States and Mexico, including one in Decatur, Indiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eldon Schafer<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe look forward to creating that same community engagement and long standing relationship here in Van Wert,\u201d said Jay Arnold, Senior Vice President\/GM Fiber Business. \u201cWe\u2019re going to create some proprietary technology, some state-of-the-art technology and we\u2019re really looking forward to delivering to our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to continue working with the State of Ohio and Van Wert community, particularly the schools, and we want to bring highly competitive jobs to the community for today and for the decades to come,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to be done between today and next spring, and we look forward to building a very strong, energized team here and providing opportunities for career growth for folks here in Van Wert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plant is expected to employee 100 workers and produce $4.8 million in annual revenue. Salaries are wide ranging, depending on position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arnold also noted it\u2019s just Phase I of Techniplex\u2019s plan in Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe look forward to future investments in this site,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe\u2019re building a plant that has the capability to expand within it. We look to expand our capacities, expand our product portfolios and continue to drive additional jobs here in Van Wert and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so important for us to partner with the schools and the community so that we can train and develop the skills we\u2019re going to need for today and the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the ceremonial groundbreaking, LuAnnee Cooke, Northwest Ohio Regional Liaison for Lt. Governor Jon Husted, and Tim Schneider, Northwest Ohio Representative for U.S. Senator J.D. Vance presented proclamations to TekniPlex Plant Manager Lonnie Crump. Van Wert Area Economic Development Director Brent Stevens served as Master of Ceremonies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Local and state officials gathered with representatives from Van Wert\u2019s newest employer, TekniPlex, for a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday. For months, it was referred to as \u201cProject Hulk\u201d while the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation, along with city, county and schools officials ironed out details and incentives, including tax breaks and an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 22:57:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167323"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167395,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167323\/revisions\/167395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}