Kerotest Manufacturing, manufacturer and distributor of metal and plastic valves, has proposed a $4.3 million expansion project for its Mansura plant in anticipation of the ever-increasing demand for industrial valves.
The expansion project is contingent upon the company receiving benefits through the state’s Enterprise Zone Credit and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.
The valve-manufacturing plant proposed to build a 30,000-sq.ft. addition to the facility in the parish industrial park off La. Hwy 1 in Mansura. The company said it will contract Rusk Construction of Simmesport for the $1.5 million job. Kerotest will also purchase more than $2.8 million of new equipment as part of its expansion efforts.
Kerotest’s local plant has been growing over the past two years. It employed 121 workers with a $3.96 million payroll in 2016 and 154 with a payroll of almost $4.47 million in 2017.
The expansion will create another 50 permanent jobs at the plant. The plant’s payroll will increase to over $5.52 million.
“Our nation’s utility infrastructure is aging,” the Kerotest spokesman said. “Much of our infrastructure, particularly in the Northeast, was developed well over 100 years ago.
“Kerotest manufactures the valves needed to repair and update the distribution systems maintained by municipalities and utilities,” he added.
Kerotest began as Pittsburgh Reinforced Braising and Machine Co. in 1909. It opened its plant in Mansura in 1989.
The company is a major manufacturer of polyethylene valves used in the transportation of the nation’s natural gas and water. Its principal customers are municipalities and utility companies.
The proposed expansion is not Kerotest’s first at this site. It purchased the facility in 2002 and made a $4.5 million investment in the plant and new equipment.
It began producing the Polyball polyethylene ball valve for the natural gas industry in 2003.
Image courtesy of Kerotest Manufacturing