BATON ROUGE — Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Allpax Products LLC executive Eric Hanrahan announced the company will build an 80,000-square-foot headquarters and manufacturing center in St. Tammany Parish, replacing existing facilities where the food and pharmaceutical equipment maker has operated for more than two decades.
For the project, Allpax will make a $7 million capital investment, retain 55 existing jobs, and create five new direct jobs. Allpax is a product brand of ProMach, a privately held packaging and processing equipment manufacturing firm based in Covington, Kentucky, near Cincinnati. The Louisiana expansion of Allpax will enhance the company’s production of fully automated heat-processing retort and sterilization equipment for the food, beverage, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries.
“Louisiana continues to maintain our competitive edge by providing an outstanding workforce and a positive business climate for innovative companies like Allpax,” Gov. Edwards said. “By encouraging manufacturers to modernize their facilities and to reinvest in our people, we are securing our existing workforce and ensuring excellent career opportunities for the future in St. Tammany Parish and across our state.”
Allpax will build the St. Tammany facility in Northpointe Court, a business park north of Interstate 12 on La. Highway 1077. The new headquarters and manufacturing center will replace an existing four-building company site on Seymour Meyers Boulevard, south of the I-12 Goodbee exit.
“We’re very excited to begin work on our new facility,” said Allpax Vice President and General Manager Eric Hanrahan. “We’ve been fortunate that our business has grown significantly in the last decade, but it’s become more challenging to keep up with that growth. With this move we’re almost doubling our manufacturing capacity and centralizing our entire team under one roof. It will help us continue to deliver world-class solutions to our customers all over the world and allow our employees to be safer and more productive, while giving us room to continue growing.”
In October 2019, Louisiana Economic Development began working with Allpax and St. Tammany Corporation on the proposed facility. To facilitate the project, the company is expected to utilize the state’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program. St. Tammany Corporation engaged Taimerica Management Co. to perform an economic analysis of the project, which demonstrates that for every dollar of economic benefit provided the company, the project will generate $6.90 in new tax revenue for the parish.
“We welcome the growth and expansion of Allpax here in St. Tammany,” said Mike Cooper, St. Tammany Parish president. “We are here to assist in any way, to ensure the construction project moves seamlessly through our processes, so we see its completion in a timely fashion. We want to thank Allpax for being a part of St. Tammany for the past 25 years and again choosing our community for their expansion.”
Allpax is one of only two companies in the nation to make equipment that produces high heat and steam to sterilize bottles, pouches and containers of products, such as baby food, pet food, soup, ready-to-drink beverages and more. Along with retort sterilization equipment, Allpax also manufactures material handling systems, energy recovery systems, software and other systems and accessories to help consumer packaged-goods companies bring safe products to their consumers.
“Allpax and its parent company, ProMach, committing to remain in St. Tammany Parish continues to reinforce our ability to support this vital industry sector and the strength of our pro-business environment,” said St. Tammany Corporation CEO Chris Masingill. “We are fortunate to have an internationally recognized company with manufacturing facilities and offices in our parish continuing to create high-quality jobs and opportunities for our workforce and families to thrive.”
“We are thrilled that Allpax continues to invest and grow in St. Tammany and across the region with a new state-of-the-art headquarters and manufacturing center,” said President and CEO Michael Hecht of Greater New Orleans Inc. “Our market is uniquely positioned to support the rebirth of manufacturing, with our skilled workforce and the commitment of our colleges and universities in providing essential skills and training. We look forward to Allpax’s continued success in St. Tammany Parish.”
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