JANESVILLE, WIS. -- Sheet extruder Goex Corp. is expanding and relocating within Janesville, Wis.
Goex will spend about $13 million on the project, which it hopes to complete by mid- to late 2014.
“The overall size of the existing plant is no longer sufficient,” explained Goex President Josh Gray in a telephone interview. “We’re landlocked and can’t add space here.”
“Equally important, we will be able to source raw materials by rail,” Gray added. The firm now takes delivery of a range of thermoplastics by bulk truckloads and extrudes them into rigid plastic sheet and roll stock. It also has laminating, printing and slitting capabilities.
The new 160,000-square-foot building will cost up to $12 million, Gray estimated. The company probably will install another sheet line too, boosting its total to 14 extrusion lines. Goex now occupies a 75,000-square-foot building and plans to begin constructing its new facility in June or July this year. Goex will develop a 29-acre property near its current operation.
Goex sells up to a quarter of its output to sister company Prent Corp., a major thermoformer next to its current sheet facility. The rest of Goex’s output is sold in the marketplace.
“We’re seeing growth on both fronts,” Gray said.
Goex and Prent share private ownership.
Goex now employs 128 and expects to add 63 new jobs over the next several years. Goex will pay new workers between $13 and $16 per hour to start. Experienced technicians can earn in excess of $23 per hour, not including benefits, Gray said.
Janesville City Council approved on March 11 an application to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to share the cost with the municipality of about $1.26 million in costs for infrastructure improvements at the new site, including a railroad spur to a Union Pacific line.
Goex, established in 1989, supplies packaging and printing markets in industries ranging from medical to retail.
The relocation and expansion project “reinforces the critically important roles that public/private partnerships play within today’s competitive economic development arena,” stated Rock County Economic Development manager James Otterstein in a news release.
