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The Great Lakes Interchange |
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Hi-Lex Relocating To Rochester Hills SmartZoneJul 18, 2006 - Today, Mayor Bryan K. Barnett announced that Hi-Lex North American Group will be relocating and expanding its Tech Center operations to Rochester Hills. Hi-Lex recently acquired 2911 Research Dr. for $4,100,000, an 80,000-square-foot warehouse facility located in the Rochester Hills SmartZone™ and Great Lakes Interchange (GLI). The building is near the new Adams Road/M-59 Interchange where the newly aligned Adams Road will be constructed this summer. The building was formerly occupied by Total Filtration Systems and has been vacant for about one year. Currently, Hi-Lex is located on I-75 in Troy, a building it has outgrown. “I am very pleased to welcome Hi-Lex to the Smartzone and Rochester Hills community,” Mayor Barnett said at the Welcoming Ceremony. Behind him, a large banner read, The City of Rochester Hills Welcomes HI-LEX. Speakers at the Ceremony included Cynthia Grubbs from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., who read a letter from the Governor, Oakland County Economic Development Director Doug, Smith, Rochester Regional Chamber’s Vice-Chairman, Tim Crawford, Oakland University representative David Spencer, and the president of Hi-Lex America Inc. Katsuaki Shima. The Mayor also presented the president of Hi-Lex Controls, Inc., Takuji Murayama, with the Keys to the City. Other dignitaries in attendance included Chamber Executive Director Sheri Heiney; Frank Kramarczyk, president of Sanyo Machine America Corp; Ken Abe from FANUC Robotics; and Derek Gentile from Exhibit Enterprises. Hi-Lex began its search one year ago, first looking for a replacement building in the City of Troy. Later it broadened its search to Rochester Hills and Auburn Hills. The building on Research Dr. was owned by First Industrial Realty Trust and was available for lease or sale. “The building allows us room for growth,” said company President Murayama. “We undertook an exhaustive search and ultimately selected this building because of its proximity to the new interchange and its location in a state-designated SmartZone.” He added that competition for engineering talent among the OEMs and automotive suppliers can be challenging and the GLI offers his company the opportunity to show that they are part of a vibrant cluster of advanced manufacturing and technology companies where collaboration is critical to success. The company will invest about $3.5-million to expand the office space to 28,000 square feet. The remaining 52,000 square feet will be used for laboratory space and research and development. Hi-Lex will initially employ 93 people in Rochester Hills and will have room to add 50 additional jobs in the future. Hi-Lex is a subsidiary of Hi-Lex Corporation, Inc. Its Tech Center houses its sales team, engineering groups, CAD design and new product development for North America. In the lab area, Hi-Lex’s primary function is design validation and prove-out of new products. In addition, Hi-Lex has the ability to retrofit OEM owned vehicles with new Hi-Lex products to support their integration efforts. The company’s lab has the capabilities to test products under a variety of environments; from minus 40 Celsius to plus 120 Celsius and up to 100% humidity. It contains six environmental chambers with the capability to test almost anything from small components to a complete vehicle. New product development and next generation systems also are developed in the lab. Hi-Lex was established in 1978 in Battle Creek, Michigan, by Hi-Lex Corp, a major supplier of automotive and recreational electromechanical devices headquartered in Japan. After expanding into control cables, it launched production of window regulators in 1989 and established a plant in Litchfield, Michigan. The company continued to expand its production capabilities into Hudson, Michigan in 2001. Hi-Lex opened its most recent technical center in Troy in 2000. Today, Hi-Lex’s primary North American customers include General Motors, Honda, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Nissan and Subaru. “In today’s environment, projects like this one are difficult to win,” said Mayor Barnett. “I’m very happy that Hi-Lex will soon be calling Rochester Hills its home.” Hi-Lex President Murayama said that plans for the building’s modifications have already been submitted to the City. Occupancy is expected to occur in early 2007. The Great Lakes Interchange is a robust, diverse technology corridor located in the core of Automation Alley, Southeast Michigan’s technology cluster, that changes the ecology of business by leveraging its powerful “network of networks” to continually create innovation, define technology and help transform invention into ventures within a wide array of industries. City of Rochester Hills |
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