COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. (May 13, 2020) – Iotron Industries, a global leader in radiation processing, broke ground on their expansion project during a time when sterilization is a key priority. The expansion will add 34,000 sq. ft. to facilitate another line of sterilization capability.
“Over the last few years, due to increased market demand in the U.S. and Canada, our Indiana facility has grown to full capacity,” said Aaron Starkey, Iotron’s Vice President of U.S. Operations and Head of Business Development. “The current global pandemic has further bolstered the need to increase the supply for reliable, high scale and domestically available irradiation services.”
Construction for the expansion began earlier today with a groundbreaking ceremony led by The Hagerman Group.
“We are honored to once again handle Iotron’s construction needs in the U.S.,” said Hagerman Executive Vice President Brad Smith. “Year over year, most of our projects are with existing clients, which demonstrates the relationships and trust we build and maintain with our clients. We congratulate Iotron on this expansion project, as together we build a better future.”
Iotron Industries currently operates in a 54,000 sq. ft. facility in Park 30 and provides sterilization, bio-reduction and material modification services for the orthopedic, medical device and agricultural industries. The existing site houses Iotron’s IMPELA® brand electron-beam accelerator system, which uses no radioactive materials and is powered by standard commercial electricity.
“Whitley County is fortunate to have this unique company as a part of our diverse economy,” said Dale Buuck, Whitley County EDC president. “On behalf of our business community, I want to congratulate the Iotron team on their past success and I’m excited to see where the future leads them.”
At the request of the Whitley County Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the Whitley County Redevelopment Commission (RDC) approved financing for Iotron’s expansion project through a bond agreement.
“The bond was a great way to incentivize Iotron’s expansion to save the company interest costs and use funds already generated by the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district to continually improve economic development in the county,” said Jim Argerbright, Whitley County RDC president. “The use of the bond shows our flexibility as a county and alleviates the use of a tax abatement for taxpayers.”
Iotron Industries expanded its operations to the United States and Whitley County in 2011 and chose to expand in Columbia City due to the proximity to local orthopedic, medical and agriscience industries, along with being ideally situated for coast-to-coast logistics and distribution.
“With this expansion, we will create 30 to 40 new jobs during the next three years,” added Jeff Blakely, Iotron’s Corporate Vice President of Organizational Development. “This is just the next chapter in Iotron’s 30-year history,” Blakely continued. “Our plan moving forward is to continuously innovate, add to our already superb skill sets, position our employees for success and scale our business to meet the needs of our customers. We are extremely proud to have reached this milestone, thanks to the continued dedication of our people, our strong customer partnerships and the unwavering support from Whitley County and the State of Indiana.”
The Iotron expansion is scheduled to be completed this year.
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