Plastics firm ready to hire 61 in Seymour at first U.S. plant

Trellis Earth Products. announced Monday plans to begin hiring more than 60 workers this fall to staff its new facility in the Eastside Industrial Park. That number could increase to more than 150 as production ramps up over the next five years, said Patrick Lahmann, vice president of manufacturing.

“We’re really excited about this opportunity, and Seymour should be excited about it, as well,” Lahmann said.

The 7-year-old company, based in Wilsonville, Oregon, recently purchased the assets of bioplastics maker Cereplast, including production equipment, patents, inventory and trademarks, as part of Cereplast’s Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation proceedings. The deal also gave Trellis the opportunity to turn Cereplast’s 105,000-square-foot facility in Seymour into its first domestic manufacturing site.

Trellis currently produces its line of bioplastic disposable cutlery, clamshell food trays, school lunch trays and bags in China and will continue to serve its foreign markets through contract manufacturing.

Those products are used by more than 500 customers in the food service industry, including grocery chains such as Kroger, Trader Joe’s and Wegmans, Marriott Hotels and Resorts, Chicago and Denver public schools and the Cincinnati Zoo, as well as wholesale distributors such as Sysco and U.S. Foodservice.

“We have long wanted to mark our products as ‘Made in the U.S.A,’” said Mike Senzaki, chief executive officer of Trellis Earth. “The acquisition of this factory will enable us to quickly become the pre-eminent American supplier of bioplastic food service disposables.”

Trellis is predicting sales of $8.5 million next year; but with the Seymour location, the company now has the capacity to produce more than $50 million in product.

Lahmann, who formerly worked for Cereplast, said that, although the two companies had similar products and interests, Trellis has a more successful business model.

“Trellis is very, very different in mindset and strategy from what Cereplast was,” he said. “Trellis is a product company and already has an established revenue stream.”

He said U.S. customers have been waiting for a domestic manufacturing source for their product.

“With the announcement of the acquisition, we have had a tremendous amount of activity on both requests for quotes and actual placed orders,” he said.

On Monday, the city council approved a request from Trellis for the transfer of two existing tax abatements that were awarded to Cereplast in 2008 and 2011 and a new 10-year abatement for $2.41 million investment in equipment.

The council and the city Redevelopment Commission also approved a $54,500 loan from its Economic Loan Incentive Program of Seymour, or ECLIPSE, to help the company provide training for new workers.

The loan does not have to be paid back if Trellis meets its hiring predictions, which include an additional 34 employees in 2015, said Jim Plump, executive director of Jackson County Industrial Development Corp.

“This is very good news for Seymour, for Jackson County and for south-central Indiana,” Plump said.

The loan requires that most of the workers live in Jackson County. The company receives more money for higher-paying positions.

ECLIPSE money is generated from tax-increment financing district revenue and does not come from the city’s property tax funds.

Before purchasing Cereplast, Trellis planned to build a facility in Rochester, New York, Lahmann said.

“When it became known that Cereplast was in trouble, Trellis approached them,” he said. “We saw this as a way to fast-track to launch because there is a facility with infrastructure already in place.”

In addition, purchasing Cereplast offers Trellis vertical integration because not only will it make the products it also can produce the supplies needed to make those products, in this case bioplastic resin pellets.

Trellis will use the existing equipment from Cereplast and will add thermo-forming, sheet lines and injection molding equipment, Lahmann said.

“What Trellis brings to the table that is very different is that Trellis views themselves as an alternative way for customers to go green for free,” Lahmann said.

Instead of being made with 100 percent petroleum-based materials like traditional plastics, Trellis makes the same products with up to 70 percent renewable materials, according to the company’s website.

Its products make a significant contribution to minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and oil dependency by drastically conserving resources, offsetting the carbon footprint and reducing material in the landfill, Lahmann said. The company also promotes rural economic agricultural growth and development.

Trellis has aggressive long-term plans, Lahmann added.

It will continue to produce, use and sell the resins that Cereplast made and is launching all new product lines of cutlery and school meal trays.

State Secretary of Commerce Victor Smith said Indiana is the perfect location for Trellis to thrive and grow.

“Trellis Earth will find an ideal environment in Indiana for bringing manufacturing home to the United States,” he said. “There’s a reason why Indiana leads the nation in manufacturing job growth. Indiana provides growing companies like Trellis Earth with an affordable business climate, a central Midwest location and a skilled team of Hoosiers ready to prove why Indiana is a state that works.”

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has put together an incentive package for Trellis that includes up to $1.1 million in tax credits and up to $50,000 in training grants based on the company’s job-creation plans. The tax credits are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to receive the incentives.