Banner Medical Celebrates Arrival In Warsaw Tech Park
August 20, 2016 at 1:31 a.m.
By Dan [email protected]
The extent of their search, though, was limited to about a 25-mile radius around Warsaw.
As President and CEO Mark Redding said, the company wanted to be the “closest to epicenter as we could get.”
On Thursday, the company and community celebrated the latest addition to the renowned orthopedic capital of the world with Banner’s 43,000-square-foot facility in Warsaw’s new Tech Park On Polk Drive just north of U.S. 30.
Banner might be new to the community, but it has 35 clients within the immediate area, including Zimmer Biomet, Medtronic and Tecomet, Redding said.
Thursday’s celebration is the latest culmination as Banner gains a stronger foothold into the medical device field.
Its parent company, Banner Service Corporation, has been around since 1961 and focused on bar grinding, but established Banner Medical eight years ago.
Warsaw is Banner Medical’s third facility with others in North Carolina and Ohio, but the Warsaw operation is different.
Banner is touting an integration of services that Redding says starts with close relationships with the mills but also involves planning and processing, logistics, testing and quality management for its customers.
“The way we’re approaching this has never been done in the device industry or any industry that we know of,” Redding said.
Much of it involves inventory controls.
“We’ve set it up for very immediate service requirements on a continuous basis,” he said.
As of this week, the facility has about 14 employees and that number is expected to rise to 76 by 2019 as the company continues to ramp up its local business activity.
Applications are being sought for grinder operators, ultra-sonic testers, water jet cutters and lab technicians. Starting pay for many of the jobs will be between $15 and $22 per hour.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, who attended Thursday’s ceremony, said he realizes the attraction of a high-tech company to Warsaw that brings with it good paying jobs is something almost any city would love to have.
Banner’s existing customer base, though, made the sales pitch a little easier.
“It’s a huge advantage to them being here so we were obviously utilizing our strengths to attract them and they certainly saw the benefit,” Thallemer said.
Among the inducements offered to banner through the state were $725,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $25,000 in training grants.
A representative of Indiana Economic Development Corporation pointed out that Banner joins Indiana’s growing life sciences industry that contributes to a $62 billion economic impact last year.
“On behalf of the state of Indiana, I want to thank Banner Medical for coming here and building this marvelous facility,” said David Behr, a regional director for the IEDC.
Banner Medical’s arrival is also a feather in the cap for the city as it works to develop its new tech park along Polk Drive.
In addition to Banner, the first phase of the park includes two empty lots and a third that includes a shell building that’s currently used for marketing.
Banner is one of a handful of companies that toured the shell building and officials said they believe it’s helping sell the park.
“The shell building didn’t necessarily work for their needs, but obviously, they were impressed with everything we had done,” said city planner Jeremy Skinner.
The city also is moving toward expanding the park further to the west, Skinner said..
Banner is located just down the road from Medtronic and Ivy Tech, and the company has already expressed an interest in working with the community college.
“We find it attractive to be able to be close by their school and machining center. We look forward to a partnership with them,” Redding said.
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The extent of their search, though, was limited to about a 25-mile radius around Warsaw.
As President and CEO Mark Redding said, the company wanted to be the “closest to epicenter as we could get.”
On Thursday, the company and community celebrated the latest addition to the renowned orthopedic capital of the world with Banner’s 43,000-square-foot facility in Warsaw’s new Tech Park On Polk Drive just north of U.S. 30.
Banner might be new to the community, but it has 35 clients within the immediate area, including Zimmer Biomet, Medtronic and Tecomet, Redding said.
Thursday’s celebration is the latest culmination as Banner gains a stronger foothold into the medical device field.
Its parent company, Banner Service Corporation, has been around since 1961 and focused on bar grinding, but established Banner Medical eight years ago.
Warsaw is Banner Medical’s third facility with others in North Carolina and Ohio, but the Warsaw operation is different.
Banner is touting an integration of services that Redding says starts with close relationships with the mills but also involves planning and processing, logistics, testing and quality management for its customers.
“The way we’re approaching this has never been done in the device industry or any industry that we know of,” Redding said.
Much of it involves inventory controls.
“We’ve set it up for very immediate service requirements on a continuous basis,” he said.
As of this week, the facility has about 14 employees and that number is expected to rise to 76 by 2019 as the company continues to ramp up its local business activity.
Applications are being sought for grinder operators, ultra-sonic testers, water jet cutters and lab technicians. Starting pay for many of the jobs will be between $15 and $22 per hour.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, who attended Thursday’s ceremony, said he realizes the attraction of a high-tech company to Warsaw that brings with it good paying jobs is something almost any city would love to have.
Banner’s existing customer base, though, made the sales pitch a little easier.
“It’s a huge advantage to them being here so we were obviously utilizing our strengths to attract them and they certainly saw the benefit,” Thallemer said.
Among the inducements offered to banner through the state were $725,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $25,000 in training grants.
A representative of Indiana Economic Development Corporation pointed out that Banner joins Indiana’s growing life sciences industry that contributes to a $62 billion economic impact last year.
“On behalf of the state of Indiana, I want to thank Banner Medical for coming here and building this marvelous facility,” said David Behr, a regional director for the IEDC.
Banner Medical’s arrival is also a feather in the cap for the city as it works to develop its new tech park along Polk Drive.
In addition to Banner, the first phase of the park includes two empty lots and a third that includes a shell building that’s currently used for marketing.
Banner is one of a handful of companies that toured the shell building and officials said they believe it’s helping sell the park.
“The shell building didn’t necessarily work for their needs, but obviously, they were impressed with everything we had done,” said city planner Jeremy Skinner.
The city also is moving toward expanding the park further to the west, Skinner said..
Banner is located just down the road from Medtronic and Ivy Tech, and the company has already expressed an interest in working with the community college.
“We find it attractive to be able to be close by their school and machining center. We look forward to a partnership with them,” Redding said.
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