Further our story last week "Zschimmer & Schwarz Acquires LEXOLUBE Division from INOLEX", Zschimmer & Schwarz announced it will be making a $50 million investment and plans to create 75 highly skilled jobs in Georgia, related to its acquisition of INOLEX' LEXOLUBE division.

Zschimmer & Schwarz, a German-based chemical company that opened its Milledgeville, Georgia plant in 2000, has acquired the LEXOLUBE division of Pennsylvania-based INOLEX Chemical Co. The company said the acquisition will expand the existing work of the specialty chemicals manufacturer with additional specialty lubricants and lubricant components.

According to the Macon, Georgia Telegraph, Zschimmer & Schwarz plans to build a new facility in nearby Gordon, which is southwest of Milledgeville and due east of Macon. The new plant will include about 75,000 square feet of laboratory, warehouse and office space, CEO Bill Burton said last Wednesday. Also included on the 300-acre site will be about four rail spurs to the rail line, 40 storage tanks and reactors.

“If you look at just the people or just the square footage, it’s misleading,” Burton told The Telegraph. “Just to start out, it will generate $40 million of revenue. And obviously we bought enough land so that we could double and triple that in the future. ... The interesting thing is Zschimmer & Schwarz was a $5 million company in 2001 in the U.S.”

"The company now has about 75 workers at the Milledgeville plant, and it expects to add about 60 of the new hires at the Gordon plant about 15 miles away", he said. It expects to begin hiring for these highly skilled jobs this summer.

Burton said. “Sales are expected to reach $80 million in 2017 for our Milledgeville location.”

Work should begin on clearing the land in Gordon in the next couple of weeks. Then the company has to build the rail line, the roads, the buildings and install its equipment.

“It will be, hopefully, second quarter 2018 when we can start production, if we can do it that quickly,” Burton said.

Part of the $50 million investment includes the acquisition of LEXOLUBE from INOLEX, Burton said. To ensure a smooth transition, INOLEX will continue to produce LEXOLUBE products for a certain period until manufacturing is transferred to the Georgia site.

Zschimmer & Schwarz, a family owned business founded in 1894, with headquarters in Lahnstein, Germany, develops and produces high performance chemical auxiliaries for the leather, ceramic, textile/fiber, personal care, lubricant, and polymer industries/markets.