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Licking County Port Authority Shows Off Growing Campus, Expanding Companies

https://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/2019/04/04/port-authority-shows-off-growing-campus-new-congressman/3351113002/

Heath, April 4, 2019

Congressman Troy Balderson, like many community leaders and politicians before him, left the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center campus in amazement following a tour of five growing companies on the campus.

The Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority, which manages the campus, gave a quick look inside Bionetics, Hexagon Purus, Mistras Group, Ariel and GB Foods facilities.

The companies on James Parkway and Kaiser Drive may not get the local attention retailers get on Hebron Road, but they are known in business circles throughout the nation and world.

“I was very impressed," Balderson, R-Zanesville, said. "To actually know this is out here, and see it first-hand, it’s unbelievable. What we have here in Licking County, we’re all very fortunate. It’s a hidden gem, we can say that. There’s not a main drag through here that sees it.”

Rick Platt, executive director of the Port Authority, regularly provides office-holders and candidates tours of  various tenants at the COATC campus, where 21 companies occupy about 400 acres and employ 1,420.

“We can find engineering talent and technician-level talent, and that’s the sweet spot of Licking County," Platt said. "The stereotype is engineers you’ll going to find in a beltway somewhere. Technicians you’ll find where the farms were.

"We are able to achieve both of those, and have for 50-plus years, with Boeing, the Air Force and Owens Corning (in Newark-Heath). That forms a base, workforce-wise that has served us well on this corridor.”

The five-company tour started at Bionetics, which in May or June will open a new $2 million, two-story, 4,000-square foot laboratory inside the Boeing building. The lab will include $6.8 million in machines used to measure equipment for the Air Force, including a 125,000 dead weight machine.

Ben Fullen, program director for Bionetics, explained the importance of the work for the operation of airplanes.

"When a pilot gets ready to take off and he puts his throttle forward, he wants to know he’s got enough fuel to make that max takeoff," Fullen said. "He looks at that flow meter and it tells him if he’s got any flow or not. Well, we calibrate that equipment that calibrates the flow meter.”

The Air Force provided 70 percent of the money for the project, and the remaining 30 percent came localy, Platt said.

The second stop on the tour was Hexagon Purus, which now occupies the former xperion building at 1475 James Parkway.

In 2015, German automotive components manufacturer xperion began production of compressed natural gas tanks in the new 50,000-square foot building. The company ceased production here a couple years ago.

Hexagon will begin producing hydrogen tanks at the same facility by mid-2020. During the plant's transition to hydrogen production, Hexagon is using the location to store and distribute propane tanks produced at its Norway plant.

Casey Brown, general manager at Hexagon facility, said the Heath site will be the first facility with mass production of hydrogen pressure vessels in the U.S.

“The hydrogen market is not affected by the oil price,” Brown said. “Compressed natural gas is a more volatile market, dependent on oil price per barrel.

“Right now, the auto industry weighs heavy on hydrogen because it’s a more sustainable option for long-term mass production.”

Hexagon will have 10 to 15 employees here until production of hydrogen tanks begins. In 2020, it will begin staffing for production, warehouse and engineering positions.

The 1-3-year plan is to have 50 to 100 employees here, Brown said. The 3-5-year plan calls for more than 100 employees.

Keith Dillon, process engineer with Hexagon Purus and a 2006 Newark High graduate, said the company does pressure tests on tanks, checking for leaks. The tanks are put under high pressure in water, until they explode, making a noise heard around the area.

"They go pop," Dillon said. "We call our neighbors. We call Samuel (Strapping) and Boeing. It’s loud. It sounds like a freight train.”

The third stop on the tour was Mistras Group, which moved from the Kaiser building into a new building at 1480 James Parkway in December 2015. The company employees 48 here now, but hopes to increase by 20 percent to 25 percent annually.

Mistras does x-ray, ultrasound and immersion testing for the aerospace industry and others, with Space X, Cessna and Boeing some of its customers.

Mike Jones, general manager at the Heath facility and three others, is a 1984 Licking Valley High School graduate.

“We do tons of aerospace work," Jones said. "The most important work we do in here for aerospace is ultrasound. We take high-energy, high-frequency sound and compact it.”

The company recently received Space X lithium alloy plates from France to ultrasonically inspect.

Mistras also trains and certifies employees at the Heath facility.

“We home grow people," Jones said. "We offer our own schooling here. The accreditation is guided by the aerospace industry.”

Mount Vernon-based Ariel Corporation, which supplies gas compressors worldwide, provided the fourth stop on the tour, at 659 Kaiser Drive. The company came here in 2015, and enjoyed tremendous success, supervisor Jason Snedden said.

Ariel has 101 employees at the Heath plant and has openings for 17 more machinists.

“We have a very high-quality compressor that it seems everyone wants," Snedden said. "Our business is booming right now. We are on fire. It’s a great time to be at Ariel.”

Ariel started in 1966 and is still a family-owned company, run by the founder’s daughter. The company encourages innovation from its workers, and has used more than 150 ideas for new equipment or new processes in the last four years.

The final stop on the tour was at GB Foods, located at 670 Kaiser Drive. The company, a partnership of companies in the United Kingdom and China, uses a non-GMO soy protein as the key ingredient in its food.

Troy Brunn, the plant director, said GB Foods should be in production or final testing in a month, and should have 10 employees per shift and two shifts by end of the year. A contract with Kellogg is expected to fill one shift, he said.

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