Batavia, N.Y.-based Chapin Manufacturing Inc. will invest $5.5 million into a new manufacturing site in Mount Vernon, Ky., to produce compressed air sprayers that can be used for sanitizing.
The company expects to hire 100 employees over the next 10 years as it positions itself to better serve customers in the Midwest and West Coast with metal, stainless steel and polyethylene sprayers for cleaning and disinfecting as well as fertilizer application, pest and weed control, cleaning and disinfecting, and applying paints and stains.
Chapin also reportedly will do custom molding at the facility, which is an area of production the company got into after purchasing the fixed assets and real property of Quality Blow Molding in Elyria, Ohio, in 2018. The company turned the operation into a subsidiary of Chapin International Inc. called Chapin Custom Moldings Inc., which produces toys for Little Tikes, outdoor power equipment, safety equipment and large tanks that can't be made in Batavia.
In Kentucky, Chapin is buying the former site of Eagle Manufacturing Co. about 55 miles south of Lexington. The company plans to relocate segments of existing operations in New York and Ohio to the plant.
"There were many moving parts that included purchasing this 175,000-square-foot facility," Chapin President and CEO Jim Campbell said in a news release. "The town, county and the state of Kentucky did an amazing job in bringing the project to conclusion in just under 10 days. We look forward to our part in growing American manufacturing in the great state of Kentucky."
No jobs will be lost at Chapin's existing facilities, but some equipment will relocate, Campbell told The Daily News.
"We needed space. We're maxed out in Batavia," Campbell said.
Chapin was deemed an essential business, and its sales reportedly have been growing during the pandemic. Campbell said employees are "keeping up as best we can."
"The expansion is part of an aggressive growth plan," Campbell said. "We expect with the plan to, in the next five years, double our business."
As Chapin closes on the real estate transaction, Campbell said he expects to begin moving equipment into the facility. The warehouse space will be used immediately, and 10 employees will be hired to staff it.
Production lines will begin running in the coming months, Campbell added.
The facility will pay an average hourly wage of $22.40, including benefits.
In the sprayer business since 1903, Chapin offers a wide range of products, including backpack sprayers, hand sprayers, cart sprayers and drum pump sprayers.