Phoenix Contact USA celebrates 25th anniversary, breaks ground for expansion

By Plant Engineering Staff July 7, 2006

Celebrating the past while looking toward the future, Phoenix Contact officials from Germany and the U.S. marked 25 years of U.S. operations by breaking ground for a $12 million expansion project at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Middletown, PA.

“It was an ambitious and visionary decision by my brother to enter the North American continent 25 years ago,” said CEO Klaus Eisert. “He was convinced that this highly developed nation would be a future market for Phoenix Contact.”

Eisert and other Phoenix Contact representatives performed the ceremonial first dig for a new 45,000-square-foot distribution center and the expansion of the company’s manufacturing facility from 28,000 to 90,000 square feet, necessary to keep up with recent growth.

Strong sales growth in recent years has led not only to the expansion of physical facilities, but also to increased employment. One hundred twenty new employees have been hired during the past year and a half, and the company plans to add 250 more by 2010.

The new distribution center, slated for completion in 2007, is needed to address the rapid growth of product distribution through the Middletown facility. Already operating near capacity, the current distribution center cannot handle the expected growth in shipments for customers in the U.S., and increasingly, for Phoenix Contact subsidiaries across the Americas. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2008.