After winning over town planners last year, a West Coast-based manufacturer has landed a utilities grant to upgrade its first East Coast operation.
Crumb Rubber Manufacturers was awarded a $197,200 grant from National Grid last week in order to increase electricity to the manufacturing plant on Albany Street in Colonie.
CRM chose Colonie over a number of other options to set up its first East Coast operations. National Grid joined state and town leaders in securing the CRM plant, and an estimated 53 jobs, to the area. National Grid awarded the grant through its Capital Investment Incentive program.
CRM processes shredded tires to be used for a number of products, from athletic fields to playgrounds. Last February, town planners praised the company’s recycling operation and proposal to bring new manufacturing jobs to the town. The National Grid grant will help expedite getting the Albany Street plant online, according to National Grid officials.
It’s to help offset the cost for electricity and gas infrastructure to utilize a site or building in our service area, said Linda Hill, National Grid senior economic development specialist. `We want them to be successful and contribute back to the community when they are able.`
The initiative helped CRM pay a portion of the costs to bring its power supply up from 400 amps to 4,000 amps. Manufacturers looking to relocate are looking for `plug and play` buildings where little work by way of utilities means they can move in and begin meeting demand, said Hill. Helping CRM with its utility needs by offering financial service and upgrading utilities outside the building made CRM’s transition easier, and in return a sure thing in Colonie, she said.
`This is one item that helped us. There are many other items in the building, but this one helps us. It was one of the factors when we put a Colonie plant into consideration,` said H. Barry Takallou, CRM president.
Setting roots in the East Coast needs to be done fast, he said. Well before the site was chosen, CRM had already landed many contracts with East Coast customers. Since work began to get the plant up and running, the Colonie location will be meeting orders three years out, said Takallou. The new plant is set to open Aug. 29. Until opening, all East Coast orders must be shipped from the West Coast.
CRM operates two plants in Los Angeles and Phoenix. At the Albany Street site, some 19 million pounds of shredded tire, roughly 1-inch-by-1-inch cubes, will be brought into the plant each month. The shredded tire is frozen to negative 290 degrees Fahrenheit; bringing it to the consistency of glass. It is then pulverized into varying sizes ranging from the size of a pea to a grain of sand.
The steel and fabrics found in tires are separated from the rough product and recycled to be used in other products.
Most of CRM’s recycled product is used for athletic turf fields. However, it does sell various forms of the product to manufacturers of pre-cast rubber products.
Shredding of the tires is done off site. Daily trucks will come in and out of the Albany Street manufacturing plant, if approved, and no product will be stored on site. There will be no burning in the processing of the tire scrap.
Aside from incentives, the Albany Street location was chosen because of its proximity to interstates 87 and the Thruway. The 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week operation will employ approximately 55 people, of whom 50 or more will be local, said Takallou.“