Dover a “perfect fit” for Uzin Utz Manufacturing
Uzin Utz Manufacturing is 64,000 square feet and cost $13.5 million. The German company, that produces leveling and patching compounds for flooring had dozens of options to build their first North American plant, and they picked Dover.
Robin Christiansen, the mayor of Dover says, “I said a year and a half ago that Dover is in business to do business. We’ve put together a great package of incentives.”
Some of those incentives include deferred tax payments on a sliding scale. Another example is help from state officials, clearing the path for business without delays. Governor Jack Markell says Delaware has the “can do” attitude.
Governor Markell says, “They should be focused on their product and their sales. They shouldn’t have to worry a lot about permits and licenses. We need to make all of that as easy as possible. That’s exactly what we do.”
Phillip Utz, the president of Uzin Utz Manufacturing says, “We had the chance to basically pick the lot we wanted to build the plant on. We have the proximity to route 1, brand new infrastructure, and we have a lot of space to expand our facility in the future. That’s something we haven’t been able to find anywhere else.”
Dover will be seeing benefits as well. Uzin Utz currently has fifteen employees. Next year the company plans to bring in ten more. The city will also see a revenue stream form the facility’s usage of utilities like sewage, water, and electricity.
However, perhaps more importantly, officials say by choosing Delaware the company could be opening the door to usher in more businesses.
Senator Chris Coons says, “The Germans do things like their apprenticeship program, their skills training program, and their education system that make them a successful manufacturer that we could learn from. We could attract future investments from Germany in the years ahead. I think this is the first of what will be several examples of that.”
47 ABC spoke with Uzin Utz’s marketing manager on Friday. He says the company wants to see resumes for the ten positions they will soon be hiring for.
