Orange’s 184-year-old gate manufacturer to invest $10M in once-shuttered facility
Photo | Courtesy of OEDIC
Orange Economic Development & Industrial Corp. officials celebrate the reaching of a memorandum of understanding with a representative from Orange manufacturer Rodney Hunt Inc.
Rodney Hunt, an Orange-based manufacturer of metal gates first founded in 1840, is set to expand its presence in Orange after entering a memorandum of understanding with the Orange Economic Development & Industrial Corp.
The deal will see the two parties work together refurbish Rodney Hunt’s 30,000-square-foot manufacturing space on its 47-acre campus at 46 Mill St. The expansion will create room for additional manufacturing equipment, helping the company keep up with growth it has seen since being acquired by Jash Engineering of India in 2016, according to a Friday press release from OEDIC.
Jash has committed to investing $10 million into the facility over the next few years to improve infrastructure at the site.
“Since the acquisition, Jash has invested more than $12 million in Rodney Hunt to help it become the No. 1 gate company,” Jash Managing Director Pratik Patel said in the press release. “Under Jash, Rodney Hunt has grown exponentially and expanded our workforce to close to 50 employees in Orange. Our head count is increasing by 8-10 people every year.”
Prior to being acquired by Jash, Rodney Hunt had ceased all operations at the site, moving 200 jobs to Pittsburgh in the process. Jash has since reactivated the site, albeit at a smaller scale than the company’s former Orange operations, which employed 400 workers at its peak in the 1970s, according to a 2017 article from the Greenfield Recorder.
The memorandum of understanding will see OEDIC assist with executive support services, workforce development, and facilitate discussions about economic development incentives with government agencies, among other efforts, according to the release.
Established in 1996, OEDIC seeks to bring economic development to the small Franklin County town of just over 7,500 people, according to its website.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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