FAIRLAWN, Ohio—The Ohio Development Services Agency has approved an $800,000 low interest loan to help pay for construction of a new research and development center for EnPro Industries Inc.'s Stemco Division.
Work has begun on the Stemco Air Springs facility, which when completed is expected to span more than 20,000 square feet. The center is being built specifically for the unit, according to David Brinkman, segment business leader of the business, and is expected to be completed in July.
The state-of-the-art Fairlawn complex, which sits on a 3.15-acre parcel, will feature a variety of new test and other equipment. It will handle the bulk of the research and development of products along with testing.
Stemco's loan from the state is expected to be paid off in the next 10 years.
Brinkman said the facility will replace a center Stemco Air Springs was using temporarily at the former Veyance Technologies Inc. technical complex in Fairlawn.
EnPro purchased the air springs business from Veyance after the latter was acquired by ContiTech A.G. parent Continental A.G. in January 2015. A condition of the sale—mandated by antitrust authorities in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico—was that the Veyance's air springs bus in North America had to be sold to complete the deal.
That brought EnPro into the picture. It bought the air springs operation along with Veyance's Super Cushion and Spring Ride lines of truck, trailer and truck cab suspension products and cap seat springs in July 2015 and contracted with ContiTech to continue using its R&D center in Fairlawn while it built its new test facility.