Marlen International announced plans to consolidate its facilities located in Hutchinson and Overland Park to a build to suit facility in Riverside, Mo.

This new facility will combine the strengths of both existing manufacturing facilities; it will dramatically improve the working environment as well as have a state of the art test kitchen and new training facilities for technicians and customers.

“This decision was a difficult one,” says Nikola Vajda, President and CEO of Marlen International. “Our people are what make Marlen what it is today and what it stands for. We have a position for every one of our people at the new location and are working one on one with each person to find a way to make it work.”

When asked about the reason for the move, Vajda commented, “The main driver behind this decision to consolidate was to focus more on the working environment for our people and our customer’s needs.

That means better testing of our products prior to leaving the facility, better training for service technicians and a world class test kitchen for our customers to come and run their actual products.

We toured existing facilities as well as discussed new sites in both states. We have had extremely strong support from representatives of the cities of Hutchinson and Overland Park, as well as from the State of Kansas.

However, Missouri was able to provide the facility we need at a substantially lower cost. These savings will allow us to build the facility that will serve our needs today as well as give us the room for future growth in new products and acquisitions.”

The timing of the move is targeted for early 2013. The project is contingent upon state and local incentives.

The plant in Hutchinson is located at 401 South Washington and has 29 employees that will be effected.