“Hopefully, this one thing will lead to others. We have about 80 acres left in our industrial park and, hopefully, we can land a few new tenants in there that actually want to build.”
William Singer Jr.
Englewood’s director of community and economic development
ENGLEWOOD — Japan’s SK Tech, which opened its first North American location in Englewood in 2002, exemplifies how foreign companies can grow once they plant roots here.
In 2004, the company expanded its local operations by more than doubling its floor space to 48,000 square feet. The company had 65 employees not quite a year ago.
Today, SK has about 100 employees and is adding 30,000 square feet to its building. The addition is expected to be completed in June.
Company Vice President Kenichi Nagoshi said he would like to see a workforce of about 200 within the next decade.
“It’s not necessarily the economy,” Nagoshi said. “We’re expanding more because of different kinds of parts, not only the volume, but because of a different part we are making.”
SK Tech is what is called a Tier II company, making auto-seat parts for a Tier I company that sells a finished product to an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), in this case, either Honda or Toyota.
Whatever the reason, it is good news for the region and Englewood, which was chosen as SK’s location as a result of easy access to customers in this state, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Canada.
“This is definitely a positive for the city of Englewood,” said William Singer Jr., the city’s director of community and economic development. “They’re looking at bringing on additional jobs, and a 30,000-square-foot expansion, that’s quite sizeable. They’re bringing the building up to nearly 80,000 square feet.
“Hopefully, this one thing will lead to others. We have about 80 acres left in our industrial park and, hopefully, we can land a few new tenants in there that actually want to build. This is their second expansion. We are really glad to see this being almost a home-grown business.”
Nagoshi said his company’s goal is $18 million in sales this year, and he likes Englewood.
“Because we are established here, we are committed to Englewood,” Nagoshi said. “We want to support the community and economy. That is one of our missions.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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