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TROY |
Drive Interstate 75 through the West Central Ohio city of Troy, and you begin to understand why this heavily traveled highway has attracted a high level of business diversity. Well-known names like Honda, Panasonic, BFGoodrich Aerospace, Hobart Brothers and PMI Food Equipment Group are located in one of the most productive, well-balanced communities in Ohio.
| Increasingly, plastics play a role in manufacturing, and Troy has a substantial presence in the plastics industry and a well-developed supplier network.
Among companies is Tri-Dayton, a custom tool and die design, molding and machining shop specializing in polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a heat-tolerant, granular form of Teflon® that can be molded, extruded, sliced and formed. The bushings and seals supply the automotive, appliance, chemical, aircraft and aerospace industries. Tri-Dayton is a division of Freudenberg-NOK (a German-Japanese partnership), which bought the company to obtain U.S. manufacturing capacity and to enjoy the benefits of Troy's labor rates, which are one-half of those in Germany. Larry Beam, vice president and general manager, says Tri-Dayton exports 12 percent of the plant's output, serving such firms as Monroe Australia, GM in Brazil and other companies in Japan and Mexico. The plastic knobs and handles that Dimco-Gray produces are a prosaic product, but how would we do without them? Founded 68 years ago, Dimco-Gray today is one of the largest manufacturers of custom-molded thermoset and thermoplastic knobs. The company also makes electromechanical and electronic timers for use in photo labs and metal snap-slide fasteners. |
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Headquartered in Dayton, Dimco-Gray turns out millions of knobs a year at its Thermoplastics Division in Troy. The knobs go on mowers, snow blowers, exercise equipment, light stands, pepper mills, shift levers for all-terrain vehicles, electrical controls and valve controls. Big customers include NordicTrack and Snapper.
The company likes its location near the crossroads of America -- I-75 and I-70 -- in the center of 80 percent of U.S. original equipment manufacturers.
The food service industry is fueling growth at another Troy plastics company. Elm Packaging Co. makes disposable tableware, fast-food packaging and insulation materials. The plant operates seven days week with three shifts. The fast-growing company today employs 100 -- rising from a work force of 40 just a couple of years ago.
| Particularly popular with foreign investors, Troy hosts American Matsushita Electronic Corp.'s Panasonic television tube production plant (21 acres under roof), which recently benefited from a $127 million expansion. Honda has its huge distribution and North American procurement facility in Troy. F&P, a Japanese/Canadian firm, makes brake pedals and frames, and Motoman (a unit of Yasakawa Electric Corp. of Japan), is now the No. 3 maker of robotics in America. From Europe, Troy sees representation by SEW Eurodrive, a German maker of power transmissions. |
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Recently announced for Troy is a new facility for Prestolite Power Corp. The 120,000-sq. ft. facility will house the company's industrial arc welding equipment manufacturing division and the battery charging division.
Troy is attractive for distributors, too. United Retail has a new $100 million distribution center in Troy, a site choice cemented by the "welcoming attitude" of the city.
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And for business travel, Troy is in an excellent position. The city is just 11 miles from Dayton International Airport, from which business people can access the largest 90-minute air market in the nation -- 55 percent of the country's population.
Troy has sites on the interstate or close to it, as well as a dozen fully serviced industrial parks. |
| West Central Ohio | OHiO ENGINEERED MATERIALS |
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