In a groundbreaking ceremony last Tuesday morning, Venture Products, Inc., manufacturer of the Ventrac compact tractor, broke ground for a new manufacturing facility, located on their twenty-one acre site at 500 Enterprise Drive, located just north of Smith Dairy at 1381 Dairy Lane in Orrville’s newest industrial park.

In attendance was Dallas Steiner, President and CEO of Venture Products, Inc., along with company executives, city officials, and community development members. “We are excited for this opportunity as we focus on the future and expand our capabilities and capacities to make this location the corporate/global headquarters for Ventrac,” states Dallas.

Ventrac has experienced significant growth the past few years and find they are exceeding the capacities of their two current manufacturing facilities. The new 116,400 sq-ft facility will allow Ventrac to house all operations at one location. The project will be completed in three phases, taking place over the course of three years. Phase one will house research and development, fabrication, welding, parts and warehouse departments. When completed, all operations, including corporate offices, assembly, paint, purchasing, marketing, and sales will be conducted under one roof.

“Ventrac has been blessed to be in this position of growth and are grateful for the strong dealerships that carry our products,” says Dallas. “Our dealers and customers are very important to us and this new facility will allow Ventrac to better meet their needs.” Mark Steiner, Vice President and Facilities Manager, added, “the new expansion will allow Ventrac to grow its manufacturing capacities, add continued improvement to LEAN manufacturing principles and allow additional purchase of state of the art machinery.”

Dallas thanked employees for stepping up to meet the ever growing sales demands. “Our employees have stepped up and gone above and beyond to help us meet production goals, and I thank each one for their contribution as we grow and expand our product line throughout the world.”

The company will be adding new jobs as a result of the building expansion. “We are looking forward to the expansion project because it will become the future home of Ventrac, which will not only house the current employees,” states Randy Kitzmiller, Director of Operations, “but will also allow us to grow and add even more employees in the future.”

Dallas and Mark Steiner concluded the groundbreaking event by scooping dirt with two of the companies’ Ventrac tractors with power bucket attachments as a symbolic gesture to this new beginning.