In an era when the idea of thinking outside the box is more cliche catchphrase than motivational ploy, the people behind a manufacturing firm that's setting up shop in Northumberland County are thinking solely of the box itself.
"Last year, we promised that we would continue to think about, and only about, the box," according to a statement made on Polar Tech Industries of Pennsylvania Inc.'s website, www.polar-tech.com. "We kept that promise. We thought, thought, and thought some more. And, when we were done thinking, we started investing."
Polar Tech, a Chicago-based firm founded in 1984, fabricates temperature-sensitive insulated packaging and shipping products and refrigerants for the food and science industry.
Their products make it possible to deliver a food product - anything from pizza to ribs and wine - within the hour, overnight or longer. They also fabricate commercial upright freezers and refrigerators and chest freezers.
The same ideas behind shipping food and drink at desired temperatures are put to use when manufacturing products for the science industry - cold packs, lab and test-tube mailer kits, infectious substance shippers and medical transport bags.
Polar Tech is moving some 3 million units annually and is outgrowing its Genoa, Ill. facility.
Coming to Paxinos
It was announced Thursday night at a function hosted by county Commissioner Vinny Clausi at his Coal Township restaurant, Two Guys From Italy, that Polar Tech will expand its operations into the county.
When it begins production this November at its Paxinos plant in Reed Industrial Park that once housed Fleetwood Enterprises, it will do so with an eye on capturing a greater market-share on the East Coast.
The firm is expected to create about 50 full-time jobs, with wages ranging from $12 to $22 an hour, according to company officials, and move some 600,000 units from its new site in its first year - a modest figure the company expects to increase beyond its Illinois plant's output.
Applications for management, production supervisors, machine and forklift operators, maintenance personnel and more will be accepted within the next month through PA CareerLink sites in Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties.