Lancaster County has landed another global company.
The S.C. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that Rembe, a German-based maker of specialty equipment that protects manufacturing plants from dust explosions, will invest $3.4 million and create 22 new jobs at Bailes Ridge Corporate Park in Indian Land.
Rembe (pronounced REM-bee) intends to build a multipurpose complex that will serve as the company’s U.S. headquarters for operations and sales, as well as a warehouse and light-manufacturing assembly facility.
Rembe makes pressure-relief valves and high-end venting systems that provide dust-explosion protection and enhanced safety measures for grain, sugar, wood and metal plants.
The facility here will not be a manufacturing plant. The company is also moving its eight-member sales team to Lancaster from Charlotte.
“We’ve been working on this project for more than a year and are excited about their investment in our community,” said Jamie Gilbert, the county’s economic development director.
The company has purchased a 5-acre tract in the business park and will start construction on a 14,000-plus-square- foot building in late spring. The design of Rembe’s building will be geared for expansion and can double in size if needed, Gilbert said.
The company expects the facility to be operating by the end of 2020 or early next year.
“We are very excited to be taking the next steps to firmly establish Rembe as a U.S.-based full-service combustible dust-explosion safety organization,” Rembe President and CEO Gerd Mayer said in a release. “We greatly appreciate the opportunity to move to a growing, progressive community that we can support and promote.”
County leaders unanimously passed the final reading of the fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement (FILOT) with Rembe at Monday night’s county council meeting.
The agreement gives Rembe a 6 percent assessment rate and a fixed millage rate of 325.4 mills for 20 years. Rembe will also receive a 50% Special Source Revenue Credit (SSRC) for five years on the property taxes.
Steve Harper, chair of Lancaster County Council, noted that Rembe’s operation is a solid addition to the growing number of businesses coming here.
“We welcome the new jobs and investment Rembe will bring, and we appreciate their commitment to Lancaster County,” Harper said.
Those interested in jobs with Rembe should email info@rembe.us.
Gov. Henry McMaster noted in a release that Rembe’s decision to come to Lancaster indicates that South Carolina continues to be a business-friendly state.
“We congratulate this great company on this announcement, and we look forward to watching them grow for years to come,” McMaster said.
Rembe’s announcement is the second this month for job creation in the county.
On Feb. 11, Scientex, one of the world’s largest makers of industrial stretch film and flexible packaging, announced that it planned to invest $43 million here in the next five years, creating 69 jobs.
Based in Malaysia, the company bought the former Springs Grace Logistics Center on Grace Avenue.
Scientex hopes to start production in Lancaster next January.
By Gregory A. Summers, Staff Reporter with The Lancaster News
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