Celanese Breaks Ground on $20M Expansion of Florence Facility

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Celanese Corp. broke ground May 15 on a $20 million expansion of its manufacturing  facility in Florence, Kent. The expansion will help Celanese keep pace with demand for its advanced engineered materials products.

Celanese’s facility is home to 350 employees  and the company’s research and development center. The project will create a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing and technology innovation hub. It will add compounding process lines to the existing site and create 10 new jobs. The new unit is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2015.

“Celanese has been producing high-performance engineering thermoplastics at its Florence facility since 1984, providing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in capital investment in northern Kentucky,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a statement. “We’re excited that Celanese chose to build this new and innovative manufacturing facility in Boone County. We welcome this investment and thank the company for providing more jobs for Kentuckians.”

“Our manufacturing facility in northern Kentucky is a center for innovation that drives research and development and the advancement of high performance engineered materials,” said Phil McDivitt, vice president and general manager of the Celanese engineered materials business. “In addition to critical design and engineering support, we provide our customers with technical expertise throughout the product development cycle. This expansion and investment in new prototyping and full-scale production lines will help us better serve our customers around the world, align our manufacturing capability and improve operational efficiency.”

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority has approved Celanese for tax incentives up to $300,000 in tax incentives through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The company will also receive up to $100,000 in tax benefits through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act.