MUM Industries gets city grant to expand

Company to nearly double in size, add almost 90 jobs in 10 years

The city of Mentor continues to provide hometown help for industrial expansion.

This week, City Council approved its third grant to a manufacturing business within a month.

A 10-year Mentor Incentive Grant worth $244,670 in payroll taxes was awarded April 3 to MUM Industries.

The “sister” company of Integra Enclosures and AllFlo Pump Co. plans to relocate from its 47,000-squarefoot facility at 7750 Tyler Blvd. to a building at 8989 Tyler Blvd.

“Their project will be expanding to about double their size,” Mentor City Manager Ken Filipiak said.

“They will be moving into a facility currently occupied by Accurate Metal Sawing, whom we are working with to find a new location.

“(MUM is) moving into a space of about 90,000 square feet or greater, and over the life of this project, they anticipate expanding their employment from a current 63 employees to as many as 146, so significant growth.”

In addition to purchasing the building, the company intends to triple the office space and invest $1 million in equipment and machinery.

The expansion was prompted by the acquisition of California-based StrongBox.

“We’ll probably move a lot of that back this way,” MUM President Jim McWilliams said.

“It expands Integra’s market from maybe 5 to 10 percent of a $2 billion market by 30 to 35 percent, so we have a lot bigger sandbox to play in, and it’s a strategic acquisition we made two years ago and we’re ready to start moving with that project, so we needed a new building.

“We wanted to own, we wanted to stay in Mentor, and so we made a decision to make acquisition of the Accurate Saw building, and we appreciate everything Mentor’s done for us to help us grow.”

Integra makes polycarbonate electrical enclosures for outdoor use. All-Flo manufactures lube-free, nonstall/freeze air diaphragm pumps used in the oil and petroleum, petrochemical, and food and beverage industries, among others.

MUM moved to Mentor in 2009 and received a fiveyear, $19,000 Mentor Incentive Grant the following year toward acquiring All-Flo.

Mentor officials thanked and congratulated company representatives.

“We’re glad you stayed in Mentor and are growing in Mentor,” Council President John Krueger said.

“(It’s a) good place,” McWilliams responded. “We love talking about it, and we say (we’re in) Mentor, we don’t say Cleveland.”

Last month, Council supported grants for two other expanding companies: Quadrel Labeling Systems and ORBIS Corp. The grants are funded by nontax revenue sources in the general fund.

In other action at the April 3 meeting, Council:

• Authorized spending about $200,000 on AT&T utility relocation for the Center Street resurfacing, right-turn lane and signalization project for the City Market development

• Approved 2.5 percent pay raises for nonunion employees; the rates are retroactive to April 2.