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Success Story: Indiana

March 12, 2014

State: Indiana
Center: Southeast ISBDC
Client: Fred Daniels, VP Operations of Uni-Ref/United Refractories

Trevor Lane with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation contacted SEISBDC business advisor, Kelly Will in 2012 with regard to a company seeking to move their operations from Ohio to Indiana.  As there were incentives associated with the project, Will was asked to perform a financial analysis on the company and worked with Vice President of Operations, Fred Daniels.

Uni-Ref, a subsidiary of United Refractories Co., designs innovative, durable refractories with a focus on customer-specific needs and application.  United Refractories was founded in 1973 by Raymond Niesen who later started a manufacturing facility (Uni-Ref) in Cincinnati in 1882.   By 2011, they had outgrown their current facilities in Sharonville, Ohio and had a need for more space. Current expansion of the Sharonville plant was explored as well as moving to another larger facility.

After looking at many sites and reviewing their expansion options, an existing facility in Brookville/Franklin County, Indiana became the best option for the company’s needs. The down side of this was the cost of reconfiguring their production lines to fit the building and the cost of moving their operation.  However this larger facility in Brookville allowed Uni-Ref to expand its current production capabilities and has also allowed Uni-Ref to consolidate other manufacturing and warehousing operations into one location. (more…)