HAUPPAUGE, NY-Festo US, headquartered here, plans to scale back its Long Island presence by 2016, Newsday reported. The seller of industrial automation equipment plans to relocate the bulk of its manufacturing and shipping functions to the Cincinnati area in the next few years, sending 125 associated jobs out of the Northeast.
“Long Island has been a great place for us to be, but like many things nothing is constant, and we need to expand our business in another area,” Festo US CEO Rich Huss told Newsday. “We also realized our existing facilities weren't large enough to handle our future growth.”
Festo's US sales have increased 40% since 2010, Huss said, and now exceed $100 million per year. A location in the Cincinnati area would bump up its same-day shipping ability from the current 40% to 75%, Newsday reported.
The company plans to open a 175,000-square-foot facility in southern Ohio or northern Kentucky, closer to its customer base, which has shifted west and south. It has been based on Long Island since 1972.
Huss told the newspaper that corporate officers, engineering, laboratories and a reduced footprint for production and shipping activity would remain on the island, but may be housed in a different facility. Germany-based Festo's US headquarters currently are at 395 Moreland Rd. in Hauppauge. It also has offices in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and California.
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