COSHOCTON – Leaders of Organic Technologies on Friday unveiled plans to expand the company’s South Sixth Street plant by building a “tank farm.”
About a dozen “large-format tanks” will hold between 10,000 and 50,000 gallons of chemicals, raw materials and finished products, said Joshua Wiley, vice president of finance and legal affairs for the company.
“We’re setting up a lot of infrastructure and installing it over about a year,” Wiley said.
Though expansion will not immediately add jobs to the Coshocton facilities, OT leaders say it will poise the company to continue to create jobs in the years ahead.
Founded in 1981, Organic Technologies employs 145 people in Coshocton. The company makes Omega-3 fish oil products, food supplements, pharmaceutical elements and other chemicals.
William Albert Excavating and Hathaway Construction, both of Coshocton, will perform the work on the project, installing the tanks and infrastructure in the parking lot at 1245 S. Sixth St. Jedson Engineering, of Cincinnati, serves as project engineer.
The first phase of the work should be completed by December, while a second phase will continue on into the first half of 2016, company officials said.
Currently, seven used tanks are being stored behind the company’s offices at 545 Walnut St. They will be refurbished as part of this project, Wiley said.
The project marks the company’s largest expansion since 2005, said Todd Johnson, vice president of marketing.
“We have been adding new processing equipment ever since,” he said.
The tank farm will serve an important role in company growth for the next 10 years, Johnson said.
“The demand for our product has exceeded our supply,” he said. “That’s a good problem to have.”
Organic Technologies President David Wiley told about 75 employees and visitors that he “did not build this company.”
“I see myself as a conductor,” he said. “Our employees make the music.”
From Coshocton Tribune | June 27, 2015
