Mentor Media Coming To Warsaw Tech Park, With High-Tech Jobs
March 15, 2023 at 6:52 p.m.
Mentor Media Coming To Warsaw Tech Park, With High-Tech Jobs
By David L. Slone-
Wednesday, the city of Warsaw and Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO), along with state and local partners, hosted a small groundbreaking ceremony to welcome Mentor Media leadership to the community.
Mentor Media will locate its operations in part of the 101,200-square-foot shell building at 1395 Polk Drive, which is still under development. The operation will consist of medical device end-of-line processing and supply chain management services. The Warsaw operation also will serve as a medical device service hub, including controlled storage warehousing, ISO Class 7 cleanroom and final packaging lines. The cleanroom will house a pre-validated sterile packaging system complaint with the new EU medical device regulations, according to a news release provided by KEDCO and the city.
Additionally, the company will offer a full suite of supply chain services including sourcing and procurement, operations management, customer service, warehousing and global distribution services.
West Hill Development LLC will complete the buildout of the “state-of-the-art 30,000-square-foot space” for Mentor Media by this fall. A ribbon-cutting celebration will take place later this year when the company formally opens the new location.
The company plans to hire nearly 50 employees in the next three years and hiring will begin before this fall, the news release states.
Opening the groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said, “We’re celebrating Mentor Media’s commitment to our community, and our commitment to Mentor Media. We’re very excited to have them in our Technology Park. The city of Warsaw collaborated with West Hill Development to create opportunity exactly like this. Obviously, we’re trying to help our businesses in our community expand and grow and develop, and also create opportunity for new companies to come into the community, and that’s what we’re doing today.”
He said Mentor Media brings some “exciting” technology into “our very orthopedic-rich industrial community.”
Lim Kok Khoon, Mentor Media president and CEO; and Yap Rueh Herng, Mentor Media vice president, senior operations and chief technology officer, introduced themselves.
Yap said he was based out of Singapore and is the person from Mentor Media taking care of this project. He is responsible for dealing with the government and operations.
Lim, whose home base is Singapore as well, said he takes care of the Mentor Media supply chain business for the business group. Mentor Media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elanders Group.
“I’m very happy to be here. It’s my first time in Warsaw,” he said.
Juergen Klein, Mentor Media Global Medical Device Business, said he’s spent 30 years in the medical device field. He helped Mentor Media get started. “For me, Lim is a friend and he helped me with the decision, together with the mayor, for Indiana.”
Based on the company’s job creation plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) committed an investment in Mentor Supply Chain USA Inc. of up to $750,000 in the form of incentive-based tax credits and up to $75,000 in training grants. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired, according to the news release.
Victoria Herring, IEDC senior project manager, stated, “On behalf of Indiana Economic Development Corporation, I just am thrilled to welcome Mentor Media to Indiana and here to Warsaw. The jobs created by this project are highly-skilled, highly-technical jobs that make this a perfect fit for the Warsaw Tech Park. These jobs create opportunities and will help Hoosiers right here in Warsaw. So, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation is proud to support Mentor Media, and welcome to Indiana.”
KEDCO CEO Alan Tio said, “I appreciate everyone being here today and appreciate the ongoing long-term partnerships and coming together today. With the city partnering with West Hill Development, that goes back at least 12-15 years, working together to establish one of only two dozen certified technology parks in the state of Indiana. This has to be one of the more successful technology parks.”
This community has a great foundation of entrepreneurship to build on, with a legacy in the orthopedic industry, Tio said.
Lim said, “I think this is very important for us in terms of how we have spent our participation in the healthcare industry globally. This investment is basically in that line of our strategy and expanding our global footprint so that we can serve our global client, which is our target.”
He said they serve their global clients anywhere in the world.
“I’m very excited here because there’s a lot of global players here in Warsaw, which would lend us a platform that we can collaborate here. We can start here and then we can move beyond Warsaw as well to form the complete network for the global supply chain services,” Lim said.
He said Mentor Media “strongly believes that our supply chain services, which is global in nature, would complement, as well as enhance, the whole orthopedic system here in this country and, of course, in this city as well. We look forward to working with all of you and make it a great success here.”
After Thallemer acknowledged the presence of Warsaw Redevelopment Commission President Tim Meyer and member George Clemens and Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner - who played a “big part in the development of this park” - Cary Groninger spoke.
Groninger, a county commissioner, co-owner of G & G Hauling & Excavating and a partner in West Hill Development, said, “Just happy to see another firm coming into the Tech Park. Our vision for this park when we started it many years ago was just how can we build a park that continues to add jobs and capitalize on the orthopedic capital statement of Warsaw. As you can see, there’s several medical buildings out here already, and we have a significant amount more space to do and we want to even go beyond that as we look toward the future. So, we appreciate the partnership the city has provided for us and work through this, and we’re just happy to see another opportunity here for the community and business here.”
Thallemer said having the tech park designation has “really allowed us to focus on creating those high-quality jobs that Vicki spoke of, and, again, with the orthopedic industry being in this community, this was just a natural (move). So gratified that we’re moving westward as we go that way, and 90 more acres that way. I think our future leadership needs to consider a new IDD (Innovation Development District) that the state is incentivizing. I’ll stop there because that’s a big project, but it’s something I think needs to be mentioned and considered. The way we’re set up, I think we can do it.”
Warsaw Technology Park is one of approximately two dozen Certified Technology Parks in Indiana. The development-ready business park is a partnership between the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission and West Hill Development that offers over 100 acres with underground utilities, stoplight access to U.S. 30, and access to an onsite Ivy Tech Community College facility.
For more on Mentor Media, visit its website at www.mentormedia.com.
Wednesday, the city of Warsaw and Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO), along with state and local partners, hosted a small groundbreaking ceremony to welcome Mentor Media leadership to the community.
Mentor Media will locate its operations in part of the 101,200-square-foot shell building at 1395 Polk Drive, which is still under development. The operation will consist of medical device end-of-line processing and supply chain management services. The Warsaw operation also will serve as a medical device service hub, including controlled storage warehousing, ISO Class 7 cleanroom and final packaging lines. The cleanroom will house a pre-validated sterile packaging system complaint with the new EU medical device regulations, according to a news release provided by KEDCO and the city.
Additionally, the company will offer a full suite of supply chain services including sourcing and procurement, operations management, customer service, warehousing and global distribution services.
West Hill Development LLC will complete the buildout of the “state-of-the-art 30,000-square-foot space” for Mentor Media by this fall. A ribbon-cutting celebration will take place later this year when the company formally opens the new location.
The company plans to hire nearly 50 employees in the next three years and hiring will begin before this fall, the news release states.
Opening the groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said, “We’re celebrating Mentor Media’s commitment to our community, and our commitment to Mentor Media. We’re very excited to have them in our Technology Park. The city of Warsaw collaborated with West Hill Development to create opportunity exactly like this. Obviously, we’re trying to help our businesses in our community expand and grow and develop, and also create opportunity for new companies to come into the community, and that’s what we’re doing today.”
He said Mentor Media brings some “exciting” technology into “our very orthopedic-rich industrial community.”
Lim Kok Khoon, Mentor Media president and CEO; and Yap Rueh Herng, Mentor Media vice president, senior operations and chief technology officer, introduced themselves.
Yap said he was based out of Singapore and is the person from Mentor Media taking care of this project. He is responsible for dealing with the government and operations.
Lim, whose home base is Singapore as well, said he takes care of the Mentor Media supply chain business for the business group. Mentor Media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elanders Group.
“I’m very happy to be here. It’s my first time in Warsaw,” he said.
Juergen Klein, Mentor Media Global Medical Device Business, said he’s spent 30 years in the medical device field. He helped Mentor Media get started. “For me, Lim is a friend and he helped me with the decision, together with the mayor, for Indiana.”
Based on the company’s job creation plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) committed an investment in Mentor Supply Chain USA Inc. of up to $750,000 in the form of incentive-based tax credits and up to $75,000 in training grants. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired, according to the news release.
Victoria Herring, IEDC senior project manager, stated, “On behalf of Indiana Economic Development Corporation, I just am thrilled to welcome Mentor Media to Indiana and here to Warsaw. The jobs created by this project are highly-skilled, highly-technical jobs that make this a perfect fit for the Warsaw Tech Park. These jobs create opportunities and will help Hoosiers right here in Warsaw. So, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation is proud to support Mentor Media, and welcome to Indiana.”
KEDCO CEO Alan Tio said, “I appreciate everyone being here today and appreciate the ongoing long-term partnerships and coming together today. With the city partnering with West Hill Development, that goes back at least 12-15 years, working together to establish one of only two dozen certified technology parks in the state of Indiana. This has to be one of the more successful technology parks.”
This community has a great foundation of entrepreneurship to build on, with a legacy in the orthopedic industry, Tio said.
Lim said, “I think this is very important for us in terms of how we have spent our participation in the healthcare industry globally. This investment is basically in that line of our strategy and expanding our global footprint so that we can serve our global client, which is our target.”
He said they serve their global clients anywhere in the world.
“I’m very excited here because there’s a lot of global players here in Warsaw, which would lend us a platform that we can collaborate here. We can start here and then we can move beyond Warsaw as well to form the complete network for the global supply chain services,” Lim said.
He said Mentor Media “strongly believes that our supply chain services, which is global in nature, would complement, as well as enhance, the whole orthopedic system here in this country and, of course, in this city as well. We look forward to working with all of you and make it a great success here.”
After Thallemer acknowledged the presence of Warsaw Redevelopment Commission President Tim Meyer and member George Clemens and Community and Economic Development Director Jeremy Skinner - who played a “big part in the development of this park” - Cary Groninger spoke.
Groninger, a county commissioner, co-owner of G & G Hauling & Excavating and a partner in West Hill Development, said, “Just happy to see another firm coming into the Tech Park. Our vision for this park when we started it many years ago was just how can we build a park that continues to add jobs and capitalize on the orthopedic capital statement of Warsaw. As you can see, there’s several medical buildings out here already, and we have a significant amount more space to do and we want to even go beyond that as we look toward the future. So, we appreciate the partnership the city has provided for us and work through this, and we’re just happy to see another opportunity here for the community and business here.”
Thallemer said having the tech park designation has “really allowed us to focus on creating those high-quality jobs that Vicki spoke of, and, again, with the orthopedic industry being in this community, this was just a natural (move). So gratified that we’re moving westward as we go that way, and 90 more acres that way. I think our future leadership needs to consider a new IDD (Innovation Development District) that the state is incentivizing. I’ll stop there because that’s a big project, but it’s something I think needs to be mentioned and considered. The way we’re set up, I think we can do it.”
Warsaw Technology Park is one of approximately two dozen Certified Technology Parks in Indiana. The development-ready business park is a partnership between the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission and West Hill Development that offers over 100 acres with underground utilities, stoplight access to U.S. 30, and access to an onsite Ivy Tech Community College facility.
For more on Mentor Media, visit its website at www.mentormedia.com.
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