ZANESVILLE — New Wayne Manufacturing, a company based in Duncan Falls focusing on commercial and industrial steel fabrication, will soon expand to the village of South Zanesville in its mission to modernize the business, adding four jobs
along the way.
Chief Finance Officer Mike Paul said the business needs to build a new manufacturing building as there is none around that currently meets their needs.
“We’ve been able to build the business in the past few years,” Paul said.
“So the facility that we’re in right now is outdated.”
In April, the company will begin building a new 22,000-square-foot plant for $1.1 million. It will retain eight jobs and add four more manufacturing jobs to the area’s economy, currently harboring a 10.7 percent unemployment rate.
Of this $1.1 million, $800,000 will have the backing of the Zanesville Muskingum County Port Authority, which assisted the company in applying for the 75 percent, 10-year enterprise tax exemption recently approved by the village of South Zanesville and Muskingum County commissioners.
Port Authority Executive Director Mike Jacoby said the magnitude of investment for a company that brings in about $3 million annually shows how important this opportunity is for New Wayne Manufacturing.
Paul agreed, saying that, with a new building, the company will be able to expand into more computer-assisted design and automated operations.
“I think it’s the only way to stay in business,” he said. “To continually modernize and work with all of the local agencies.”
Jacoby thinks that the expansion of a company with such deep roots in the community is what the tax exemption was made for.
“Wayne Manufacturing has been around for decades,” he said.
“This was the type of project I feel good about recommending to the commissioners.”
