TVH Parts Co is investing close to USD10 million in constructing and equipping an addition to its Olathe operations and remodeling existing space.

The supplier of materials handling equipment replacement parts and accessories is adding 213,018 sqft. (19,613 sqm) in which it anticipates being fully operational by December, says Els Thermote, TVH chief executive officer.

Several years ago, when Olathe planned to construct the interchange at South Lone Elm Road and Interstate highway 35, "we knew it would lead to hundreds of millions in investment and thousands of jobs", Mayor Michael Copeland said in announcing the TVH expansion during his 23 March state-of-the-city address.

Among Olathe’s "pioneering companies" in Copeland’s words, TVH business unit Systems Material Handling Co (SMH) opened a 226,694 sqft. (20,856 sqm) facility in January 2006 — even before the interchange was completed — and added another 97,619 sqft. (8,981 sqm) that was occupied in September 2007.

Copeland says that the initial project involved an investment of about USD23 million with 226 jobs and that the 2007 expansion cost USD5 million.

Currently, TVH in Olathe employs 436 staff out of a total of 725 in North America. "This is the success we planned for, and these are the results we expected," Copeland reports.

In Olathe, TVH occupies about 30 acres and has another six acres available for future expansion, Thermote says. TVH owns 127 acres in the city with more than 90 acres for non-TVH developments.

"TVH has always had a good working relationship with the City of Olathe," Thermote says. "Planning and discussions with the city began in the fall of 2011, and all necessary permits were issued in late February 2012."

Economic incentives exist. "We hope to receive a 50% (property) tax abatement for a 10-year period for the addition," Thermote says. "Additionally, we will avoid sales tax on materials used in the construction."

TVH offers products from widely recognized manufacturers for materials handling and industrial equipment vehicles such as forklifts, aerial work platforms, sweepers, floor scrubbers, and personnel and burden carriers. In addition to its Kansas headquarters, TVH has North and South American locations in Mira Loma, California; Grayslake, Illinois; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Duncan, South Carolina in the US; Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Mississauga, Ontario in Canada; Cuautitlán Izcalli in Mexico; and Vinhedo in Brazil.

For clarity, the supplier changed its corporate name in the Americas to TVH Parts Co effective 1 January 2012 from its former identity as SMH. TVH acquired SMH in 2003.

TVH Parts is a subsidiary of family-operated TVH-Group Thermote & Vanhalst of Waregem, Belgium. The parent firm was founded in 1969, has 31 subsidiaries and, under its global TotalSource brand, supplies in excess of 20,000 customers in more than 162 countries.