It’s just the kind of company that the town of Cumberland wanted: a clean, high tech manufacturing firm with high paying jobs.
That new company coming to town is AKL Flexo Tech-USA, a Warburg, Germany company that makes printing sleeves for the printing industry. AKL Flexo Tech has purchased a 26,000 square foot building in the town’s Highland Corporate Park.
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The sale was made on Dec. 31, 1998. This will be AKL’s first U.S. plant.
The company, which makes photo-polymer sleeves which break down quickly and are designed to help cut the printer’s time between jobs, will bring 50 new jobs to town, Mayor Francis A. Gaschen said.
The building that AKL bought was built on speculation and was shell of a building. The price was $1.17 million. The company will now spend $5.5 million to fit the building to its needs. Thomas Frater, a Rhode Islander and chief executive officer of AKL Flexo Tech-USA, said in a statement that the building was well suited to the company’s needs.
AKL decided to open a branch plant in the United States so that it could exploit the North American market, said Scott Gibbs, executive vice president of Highland Corporate Park Venture, a private nonprofit which owns Highland Park. The speculative building available at the park was available at the time that AKL was looking to expand, Gibbs said.
The company is also beginning a training initiative and has taken prospective employees to Germany so they could be trained, Gaschen said. AKL, the Northern Rhode Island Private Industry Council, the Community College of Rhode Island, and Davies Vocational School are also developing a training program for students interested in high tech careers.
“It’s exactly the type of business we’re trying to locate in town,” the mayor said.
It’s the kind of business that uses few town services, he said, and fits nicely with the kind of companies the town is looking to attract at Highland Park. Gibbs worked with the town to bring AKL there. The park has restrictions on the type of businesses that may build there, and restrictions on the size of the buildings that can be built. The restrictions are part of an effort to have all high-quality, technology companies in the park, Gibbs said.
