Ramco Specialties, Inc. recently held an open house to showcase its new 165,000 sq. ft. facility on Hudson Industrial Parkway in Hudson. The state-of-the-art building, which the Company moved into at the end of February, consolidates the operations of three buildings into one, dramatically increases the company’s current production space, and allows for further sales growth. The project was a great example of combining efforts of business, local government and local banking to keep a local company at home.
Ramco is a global manufacturer and distributor of fastener products with global sales in excess of $80 million. With headquarters in Hudson, Ramco also has locations in Italy and Sweden. It had been at its former location in Hudson since 1986. With the growth in domestic manufacturing and newly developed engineered products, Ramco needed to have one facility that would allow them to consolidate and allow for future expansion.
Staying in Hudson was important to Ramco President Rick Malson. Like his father, Ramco founder the late Dick Malson, he is “committed to keeping the business in Hudson to carry on this tradition and deepen their roots in the community as the company grows.”
The City of Hudson has a strong and longstanding relationship with Ramco, and when the City learned that Ramco needed space to grow, it moved quickly to help support the company in securing a new Hudson location.
Hudson’s Economic Development Department worked closely with the company to find an available property not far from Ramco’s previous location where they could build a new facility that would meet their current and future needs. To make the move work, the City purchased Ramco’s old facility where it plans to move Hudson Public Power and City Services groups this year, freeing up space for the Downtown Phase II development, which will include new housing, retail and commercial business space. The City and the Hudson School District combined to provide a competitive incentive package that provided tax advantages for Ramco, yet did not reduce the current tax base for the School District.
The City also helped bring the Development Finance Authority of Summit County onboard to work out financing of the project that helped Ramco save money on the new construction.
It was a win-win situation for Ramco and the City of Hudson. The new facility on a 24-acre lot has office space equaling 15,000 sq. ft. and plant space up to 150,000 sq. ft. The facility’s north and west walls have been designed for expansion, allowing Ramco to double the size of the plant as it grows.
The new facility also houses state of the art manufacturing equipment to support Ramco’s strategic objectives to resource fastener production back to the US with the focus on expanding highly engineered product lines and fastener assemblies to meet its customers’ changing needs.
“It was a true team effort to pull this all together and we appreciate the help and support Ramco received from the City, the Hudson City Schools Board of Education, the DFA, Geis Companies, FirstMerit Bank and all of our professional services providers. We look forward to our further mutual success together.” said Rick Malson.
“Ramco is an example of a Hudson success story,” said James Stifler, Hudson Economic Development Director. “We appreciate the Malson’s commitment to stay and grow in Hudson, and we are happy we could find a way to allow them to build a facility here that meets their needs today and into the future.”