Location, logistics, and a solid talent pool helped move Ohio to the top of the site consideration list for The Sofidel Group, an Italy-based paper products manufacturer. Earlier this month, Sofidel representatives broke ground in Circleville, OH for the company’s first integrated paper mill built from the ground up in the United States. The $300 million tissue paper factory will create 300 new jobs in the Columbus region.
At the ceremony, Sofidel CEO Luigi Lazzareschi explained why his team chose Pickaway County over 100 other potential sites in the United States. “This is a very good location for us,” he said. “Twenty-eight acres of relatively flat land. A good rail system connected to water and gas, a good airport, good logistically, lots of customer distribution centers, and a potential workforce of hard-working people.”
Sofidel was founded in June 1966 by two Italian families, and today is the sixth largest manufacturer in the world of toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissue, and other specialty paper products. The earns $2 billion a year and employs 6,000 people around the world.
Successful collaboration between Pickaway Progress Partnership, Columbus 2020, JobsOhio and several state, regional, local, and private partners helped Sofidel select Central Ohio.
“This doesn’t happen every day,” said Pickaway Progress Partnership (P3) Director Ryan Scribner. “Projects like this are rare, the opportunity is rare, and the sites and communities anywhere that can accommodate them are rare.”
The Sofidel facility is expected to become operational by 2018, with hiring for management and manufacturing positions scheduled to begin in 2017.
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