Company invests $8M in Huron

HURON TWP. — A company with international roots, spread across more than 150 countries, announced a massive investment at one of its local factories. On Wednesday, executives representing AkzoNobel — pronounced "ack-so-no-bell" — revealed an $8 million high-tech lab at its Huron-area location on Sprowl Road. A select group of local officials and media members attended a groundbreaking ceremony and walkthrough of this facility. "The investment that we have made at this site and in this community will continue to reinforce our position as one of the leading manufacturers of packaging coatings in North America," said Chris Bradford, the company's marketing director of industrial coatings. In a nutshell, the company works with manufacturers — including Ardagh Metal Packaging, which operates a plant in Huron — to coat cans for major brand names in the food, beverage and beer industries. This would include brands with worldwide recognition such as Budweiser and Coca-Cola. With the coatings, AkzoNobel creates paints to color, wrap and promote cans for brands to help them stand out on shelves and pop through advertising campaigns. AkzoNobel also lines cans for these industries. "We build the resins here that we use to make the coatings that go on cans and protect the cans that are a part of the industries we work with," Bradford said. "If you pick up a can anywhere in the world, especially in North America, you have a better-than-average chance that it will have one of our products on it." The investment basically allows AkzoNobel workers in Huron, roughly 50, to perform their jobs in a more effective and efficient manner for customers. "This new pilot plant will accelerate our time to market for new products and technologies," said Manoel Rodrigues, the regional commercial director for Metal Coatings Americas. Metal Coatings is one of AkzoNobel's businesses "The addition of this pilot plant is an exciting next step for the future of our Huron factory and our continued success in the packaging coatings industry," Rodrigues said. AkzoNobel operates four sites in Ohio: Huron, Columbus, Springfield and Strongsville. When taking into account this quartet, Ohio boasts the company's largest footprint in any state or province throughout North America. Going back to Huron, this marks one of the biggest investments at this AkzoNobel-specific location since it opened as a packaging coatings site in 1963. But there's more to come, Bradford said. "We will continue to invest in this site and this community as AkzoNobel continues to grow and expand," Bradford said. Local officials applaud the company's efforts in bringing a new plant to Huron. It partnered with AkzoNobel on the recent expansion. "Business expansion often results in new jobs, increased productivity and, ultimately, new revenue, which benefits a myriad of downstream partners," said BGSU Firelands Dean Andy Kurtz, who serves as board president of the Erie County Economic Development Corp. On behalf of the board, "I extend our sincere congratulations to AkzoNobel on the opening of this important facility," Kurtz said.