India's Polyhose invests for growth in US

For Polyhose Inc., an expansion into North Carolina — and the overall U.S. and North American markets — can be attributed to the company's strong standing within the global hose community, according to company officials.

The 1,800-employee, Chennai, India-based thermoplastic hose manufacturer is looking to build a warehouse and assembly center just outside of Wilmington, N.C., bringing 51 jobs and investing nearly $8 million in the Pender County facility.

"North America and the U.S. is by far and away the largest hose market in the world," Jonathan Pressler, senior vice president at Polyhose, said. "And really, across its length, Polyhose has world-class quality, a requirement for doing business in the U.S.

"This particular location — and why we're doing it now — has more to do with Polyhose's standing right now more than anything else."

Fatima Mohammed, president of Polyhose Inc. USA, said the planned expansion in North Carolina "is a matter of great pride for Polyhose."

"The fact that we are going to be contributing to the economy and creating opportunities for the people of the state gives us a sense of fulfillment," Mohammed said. "We have a strong, diverse team in place, with Jonathan Pressler based in Wilmington, and are looking forward to an exciting phase in the growth of the company."

At 40,000 square feet, the planned facility will be built in an industrial corridor along U.S. Route 421, for hose assembly and distribution. Infrastructure already is in place, Pressler said, and the facility should be operational by the fourth quarter of 2020.

Wages for the 51 employees at the Pender County location will average $38,216 per year, according to a news release from the North Carolina governor's office. A $75,000, performance-based grant from the One North Carolina Fund will assist Polyhose with its operations.

Pressler said Polyhose started looking at possible assembly locations across the U.S. about a year ago, settling on eastern North Carolina.

"North Carolina is known as a great place for business, with its infrastructure, major highways and central location along the Atlantic seaboard," Pressler said. "Wilmington is a seaport ... and that made it very attractive for Polyhose."

He cited nearby military bases — both Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base are relatively close, and a large Army base in Fort Bragg just outside of Fayetteville farther north — as well as a "good community college system" as excellent business neighbors.

"The area has a good work force in general," he said. "It is a really attractive place to live from a quality-of-life standpoint."

In establishing a larger footprint in the U.S., Pressler said Polyhose will look to gain market share from domestic competitors.

"Certainly to be successful we'll have to take market share from others," Pressler said. "But the hose market is always growing in the U.S."

Polyhose began with a lone thermoplastic division in 1996 and specializes in elastomer, polymer, fluoropolymer, stainless steel flexible and ultra high pressure hoses, along with the engineering and manufacture of various types of fluid connectors.

The entirety of the company's hose manufacturing is done across 1 million square feet of production space at the company's Indian headquarters, Pressler said. The company's market presence is varied, with buyers in the aerospace, commercial industrial vehicle, agriculture and medical industries, among many others.

The global hose manufacturer maintains contracts with Boeing, Caterpillar, Graco and Wagner SprayTech, according to the North Carolina governor's office.

Outside of North Carolina and India, Polyhose has facilities and offices in New Jersey (focused mostly on the paint spray industry), Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

"Polyhose is thrilled to be making its first significant U.S. investment in Pender County," Pressler said. "Polyhose looks forward to being an involved employer and positive contributor to the ... North Carolina communities."