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REP Corporation Relocating Headquarters

Company moving HQ to Kodak, Tennessee, near Knoxville; plans to retain Chicago area facility for sales and service of its molding machinery 

REP Corporation (Bartlett, Illinois), the market leader in rubber molding machinery, today announces plans to relocate their corporate headquarters to Kodak, Tennessee, near Knoxville.  The new facility is currently under construction and will be open in early 2019, according to company President Tim Graham.  From the new location, REP Corporation will conduct sales, service, engineering and machine demonstrations, plus parts warehousing, for customers in North America. REP Corporation is a subsidiary of the REP International, based in Lyon, France.

REP Corporation management shown with Mayor Larry Waters of Sevier County, Tennessee, upon completion of the agreement to relocate the corporate headquarters. Shown left to right: Brian Boyle, Regional Sales Manager Jeff Tanner, Regional Sales Manager Josh Beachum, Technical Director James Wirtz II, Aftersales Director Larry Waters, Mayor Sevier County Timothy Graham, President REP Corporation Derek Williams, National Sales Director Anna Seel, Accounting Director

 

Plans include the employment of approximately 20 people for administration, engineering, sales and field service.  REP Corporation currently maintains an install base of more than 3000 machines and has been selling in the North American market since 1970.

The current facility in Bartlett, Illinois near Chicago, will be maintained as a sales and service office for the company.

Aftersales Director Jim Wirtz explains, “We began our search about two years ago, recognizing the migration of the rubber industry to the South, as it follows the primary automotive OEM.  We were impressed by the efforts of Sevier County in Tennessee, especially Sevier County Mayor Larry Waters plus Allen Newton and his team at the Economic Development Council.  This is a major step for REP, as we’ve occupied essentially the same location in Chicagoland since we began here in 1970.  We look forward to broadening our presence in the country and becoming part of this vibrant new industrial community in Kodak.”

Technical Director at REP, Josh Beachum, adds, “One of the strong factors in our decision was the talent pool of young engineers in this area, combined with the technical training options available to us.  The rubber molding business has a very unique set of chemistries and manufacturing technologies that require ongoing training and mastery.”

Anna Seel, the Accounting Director at REP Corporation, notes, “We will provide very competitive wages and benefit package to our new employees, most of whom will come from the local community. This second location will help us provide support to our customers more effectively.”

National Sales Director Derek Williams further states, “This move represents an opportunity to support our transplanted existing customers who have followed the auto industry to the South, plus the newly emerging markets here.”

Tim Graham, concludes, “We’ve received a very enthusiastic welcome from the local business community here, making this decision to relocate from our longtime Chicago headquarters an easier move.” He added the company plans to relocate immediately upon completion of the new facility, located in the Smith-Thomas Technology Park in Kodak.

 

REP provides the North America rubber industry with a full range of injection and compression presses, plus laser mold cleaning and other ancillary equipment, as well as REP Pack 4.0, its proprietary software suite for the management of all press parameters and machine kinematics, providing manageable data for the digital factory and Industry 4.0, the rapidly advancing standard for rubber factory operations.


For more information on this announcement, please contact:
REP Corporation
8N740 Tameling Court
Bartlett, IL 60103-8146
Phone: 847-697-7210
www.repinjection.com
Attention:  Tim Graham or Jim Wirtz