A Northwest Arkansas company announced today that it will expand its operations to an adjoining facility and add 25 to 50 new jobs.
Springdale-based NanoMech has purchased its existing factory and intends to build state-of-the-art facility in the Springdale Technology Park. The approximate 25,000-square-foot building will triple the size of the current operations and will serve as the company’s world headquarters.
“NanoMech is a global nanomanufacturing company founded right here in Northwest Arkansas,” said Jim Phillips, NanoMech chief executive officer. “The new factory and expanded headquarters will provide for approximately 25-50 new jobs for world-class scientists and support staff. The space will also allow us to meet current demand for our products while advancing ongoing research and development efforts. This state-of-the-art, smart manufacturing facility and laboratories will further position our products and scientists as some of the best and most innovative in the world.”
NanoMech’s decision to expand in the region makes it the fifth company in the past six months to decide expanding in Northwest Arkansas is good for business.
Those expansions include Serco, which opened a facility in Rogers where more than 1,500 workers are processing health insurance applications; Redman and Associates, which intends to hire 74 people to make ride-on toys in Rogers; American Tubing, which in November announced that its expansion in Springdale will include about 50 jobs; and South Coast Baking Co., which intends to create 150 jobs in Springdale to make frozen cookie dough for customers such as Sam’s Club and Panera Bread.
The new NanoMech factory will incorporate cutting edge assembly lines, laboratories, and the latest in security, environmental and safety systems for handling advance manufacturing, military and strategic projects. A secure wall and security fencing to enclose the campus are part of the building plans. While the new facility will connect to the existing building, the company bought an adjacent 7.3 acre tract for future development, providing the company with the ability to expand.
“This advanced facility will allow us to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative products that people have only dreamed of before,” said Ajay P. Malshe, NanoMech founder and chief technology officer. “Aggressive demand for our technology suggests the need for rapid scale-up production to meet government and private sector orders for our breakthrough products.”
Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said “projects like the NanoMech expansion show that the city is open for business and interested in helping companies grow and expand.”
Perry Webb, president of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, believes the NanoMech expansion will spur others to invest in Springdale.
NanoMech, founded in 2002, is the result of a successful public/private partnership between the private sector, the state, the University of Arkansas, and the federal government.
Gov. Mike Beebe and Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, are staunch supporters of technology growth in Northwest Arkansas. They regularly cite the partnership between NanoMech, the University of Arkansas and the private sector as a model for public/private partnership success.
“NanoMech is at the forefront of an industry estimated to have a multi-trillion-dollar impact on the global economy over the next decade,” Tennille said. “This expansion signifies to the industry that NanoMech is one of the world’s leading companies, and we believe they will continue to create important, knowledge-based jobs and attract the best scientists from the international stage.”
