High-tech manufacturer leaving Jeffersonville, moving jobs overseas

Flow International Corp., an ultra high-pressure water cutting manufacturer, will cease operations at 1630 Fabricon Boulevard in 12 to 14 months, according to a supervisor.

Several sources at or connected to the company confirmed the move. Some deferred questions to sources who could not be reached as of press time. Calls left with Flow International Corp. headquarters and parent company Shape Technologies Group were not returned.

Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore declined to comment, City Councilman Matt Owen did not return a call for comment, and a One Southern Indiana spokeswoman said her organization had heard rumors of the closure, but could not confirm it.

The company, which has been in Jeffersonville since 1995, received tax incentives for a $2.4 million expansion 2009. At that time, Jeffersonville granted Flow tax abatements on $1 million of new equipment and $500,000 in real estate improvements. The abatements lasted five years and have since ended.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. also gave Flow up to $100,000 in performance-based tax credits and $52,000 in training grants, the News and Tribune previously reported.

The project was reported to add nine jobs to its 97 employees in 2009, boosting its average annual payroll by $500,000 with the new additions. It's unclear how many jobs will be lost with the departure.

Since then, Flow ownership has changed hands and locations.

The facility at 1635 Production Road that received these expansion investments is no longer connected to Flow International. That address now belongs to Flow Aerospace Systems, previously a part of Flow International, which was acquired by AIP Aerospace in 2014, according to its website.

Early that same year, Waterjet Holdings Inc. — since renamed to Shape Technologies Group — purchased Flow International Corp. for $200 million. The company is affiliated with American Industrial Partners, or AIP.

Flow International Corp. was founded in the early 1970s by former Boeing aviation research scientists. Since then, the company has sold more than 13,000 waterjet systems to customers in more than 100 countries across the globe, including Airbus, Boeing and General Electric.

Flow has locations in the North, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, employing about 700 people worldwide. Its headquarters are in Kent, Wa.