Itoh Denki USA, a manufacturer of motorized rollers and components, has relocated its U.S. sales and manufacturing headquarters into a newly constructed 46,000 square foot facility at 2 Great Valley Boulevard in the Hanover Crossings Business Park, Wilkes-Barre.
A ribbon cutting was held at the facility on Thursday, June 23rd. Numerous local and state dignitaries joined with Itoh Denki’s international and U.S. leadership to officially open the new building.
The company moved from smaller space it leased from Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services on Stewart Road in Hanover Industrial Estates. Mericle also constructed the new building.
The expansion project is helping Itoh Denki USA retain 21 jobs. The company expects to create 8 to 10 additional jobs over the next few years.
Itoh USA President Rich Kosik said the building will help pave the way for the company’s growth in several markets. “Our new factory and U.S. corporate headquarters will give us more capacity to manufacture products for our main markets in the USA and Canada, with the ability to expand into supplying Latin America and South America as the features of the Itoh Power Moller® continue to become recognized internationally,” Kosik said.
Kosik said it’s been almost 20 years since Itoh Denki USA was incorporated and over that time, the company’s Power Moller® has gained acceptance as the standard for driving today’s high tech conveyors.
“The unique design of the internally motorized conveyor roller originally led to use in applications where its’ safe, quiet and energy saving features were required,” Kosik said. “Recent advancements in our motor controls now allow conveyor parameters, operational logic, motor status and life cycle information to be communicated over todays’ industrial networks, increasing the demand for our products in this Internet of Things (IoT) era.”
Itoh Denki USA was founded in 1996 in order to meet the growing demand for motorized conveyor rollers from U.S. businesses. Itoh Denki USA is a division of Itoh Denki Co., Ltd. of Kasai, Japan.
Itoh Denki Co., Ltd. was founded in Japan in 1946. The company started out as a small shop repairing conventional motors and soldering tools and then expanded into the design and sale of its own electric motors. In 1975, Itoh Denki Co., Ltd. developed the motorized conveyor roller. It consisted of a standard conveyor roller tube with a company-developed electric motor and gear set inside. These first products were AC powered. Throughout the years the company continued to manufacture AC powered rollers but also added a more economical and powerful 24V DC powered product line named the Power Moller 24®.
This history of R&D and manufacturing has provided Itoh Denki USA the foundation to build a 70% market share.
“We are very happy that Itoh Denki USA has confirmed its faith in our area by investing in a new U.S. sales and manufacturing headquarters in Hanover Crossings,” said Wico van Genderen, President and CEO of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce. “The company’s steady growth in Hanover Township over the past 20 years, its retention of more than 20 jobs, and its plans to increase its workforce in the near future, validate Northeastern Pennsylvania as a great place for manufacturers.”
Mericle President Robert Mericle said his company began site work on the 18.81 acre parcel in June of 2015 as part of the company’s ReadyToGo!™ Program, an initiative to fully prepare sites in advance of building construction. While site work was underway, Mericle and Itoh Denki reached agreement on the construction of the new facility.
“We have been honored to have Itoh Denki USA as a tenant in our flex building since 1996,” Mericle said. “The company reached the point where it had outgrown our space and we quickly reached agreement on the construction of the new building. We are very proud to have played a part in Itoh’s growth in Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
This is the 27th building Mericle has developed in Hanover Crossings Business Park and the adjacent Hanover Industrial Estates. Mericle’s buildings in the two parks total more than 2.6 million square feet and are home to more than 2,500 workers.
Founded by Robert K. Mericle, Mericle Construction Inc. self-performs virtually all aspects of development and construction, using its own in-house personnel, Mericle Construction is better able to control costs and fast track delivery schedules to meet its clients’ needs. It fashions itself as a throwback to the “master builder” of old when experienced craftsmen self-performed all aspects of the construction process.