EdenPure manufacturing displayed
NORTH CANTON: Suarez Corp. Industries founder and CEO Ben Suarez said Thursday that the manufacturing of its EdenPure Infrared Space Heaters in the former Hoover Co. distribution center will be completely operational by Sept. 6.Suarez, flanked by television stars Bob Vila and Richard Karns, made the announcement on the Orchard Street site to about 200 invited media and guests who toured the facility. Vila, former host of This Old House, and Karns, best known for the Home Improvement show, are spokesmen for EdenPure.Suarez announced in early May the relocation of the EdenPure line from China to North Canton.Suarez Corp. will consolidate operations from its two existing facilities near the Akron-Canton Airport in Green and in Plain Township, moving 180 employees to the Hoover District.The company plans to hire an additional 80 employees when the plant is fully operational.Suarez estimated the U.S. manufacturing of EdenPure is creating more than 200 jobs for parts suppliers in Ohio and about 100 jobs nationally.A 12-foot, 90-ton press made in Cincinnati will stamp control boards. Steel will travel from western Pennsylvania. Pallets are coming from Hershey, Pa., where they are made of recycled packaging of Reese’s peanut butter cups.It is expected that the manufacture of EdenPure heaters will take approximately 70,000 square feet of the 200,000-square-foot former warehouse.Looking to the future, Suarez said that perhaps in two years Suarez Corp. might be ready to introduce an air purifier, an infrared stove and “the best upright vacuum cleaner on the market.”EdenPure heaters will be sold in nearly 800 Sears stores nationwide and through Sears.com.Previously, the heaters were available through direct order, club stores and independent retailers. Sears will be the first national big-box retailer to carry the EdenPure line.Mayor David Held and Suarez agreed that the relocation to the Hoover District was a winning deal for all parties.Suarez Corp. could have located in Jackson Township, which has no income tax, Suarez said. But, he added, “we got a good deal on the Hoover District, with unlimited expansion, and North Canton is one of the best-run governments we have ever seen.”Held called the loss of the 800 remaining Hoover jobs in 2008 “devastating” to the city. He thanked Suarez Corp. for its commitment to return jobs from China to North Canton.“What has been done here should be a model for other businesses,” Held said.Vila called the day a “celebration for North America and North Canton.”“This is the beginning of creating wage-making things in America rather than providing services. We have always been the guys who made everything. Ohio has a long tradition of manufacturing. We need to look at that aspect again.”
