 Celebrating the ground-breaking ceremony, from left, John Hampton, of VanVactor Construction; Dave VanVactor, VanVactor Construction; Joe Carr, VP/General Manager at Madras Packaging; Bill Berry, Madras Plant Manager; Linda Jones, Argos Town Council representative; Tom Turner, Marshall County Economic Development Corp. director; and Donna Markey, of Madras. Pilot Photo/Maggie Nixon By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
ARGOS — In tough economic times there is good news coming out of Madras Packaging.
The Argos company broke ground on a new warehousing facility on Wednesday that will provide four new jobs immediately and many more in a short span of time.
“By the year 2012 we hope to have 30 new jobs,” said Joe Carr, vice president and general manager at Madras Packaging. “Our Argos facility has experienced significant growth in sales over the last year requiring the expansion of the facility and Argos is in a perfect location when you consider it is centrally located within a number of major markets for plastic bottles such as Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit and others. This is why we chose to continue to invest in our Indiana facility versus erecting a plant in another state.”
The company, which produces dairy, industrial, household chemical and personal care bottles, will begin construction this month on a 40,000-square-foot warehouse adjacent to its existing 130,000-square-foot bottle production facility on Dewey Street in Argos. Total investment for the new building and equipment is expected to be $5.8 million over the next three years.
The company also has a plant in Atlanta, Georgia that supplies three different customers. The plant in Argos manufactures plastic containers for 15 to 20 different companies.
“This will be a warehouse facility to support our current and future growth,” said Carr. “We’ve experienced significant growth. We’re fortunate that with the economy people are still buying things like milk and juice and there is a need for packaging.”
Local contractor Van-Vactor Construction will build the facility an addition to the plants current building on Dewey Street in Argos.
“We hope to be finished with the building sometime in September,” said Dave VanVactor, president of Van-Vactor Construction.
Madras Packaging currently employs 79 at its north central Indiana operations and plans to begin hiring additional operators and warehouse associates upon completion of its new facility this fall.
“Our plant here in Argos is much more diverse; we have 15 manufacturing lines and hope to have five more by 2012,” said Carr. “The people of Argos have been very supportive of our operation. It’s been a great relationship.”
“The town is excited that Madras has chosen to expand here. We realize they had other options and couldn't be happier that they have chosen to stay,” said George Null, Argos Town Council president. “New jobs are always a plus, but especially so in tough economic times.”
A certified minority business enterprise, Madras Packaging began production in Argos in 1997 and has grown to an annual production capacity of 450 million bottles for customers including Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Sunny Delight and many regional dairies in its past.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Madras Packaging up to $165,000 in performance-based tax credits and $39,000 in training grants based on the company's job creation plans. The town of Argos will consider additional property tax abatement at the request of the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation.
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