Gentex opens know-how hub in downtown Grand Rapids
Gentex Corp. recently opened a know-how hub in downtown Grand Rapids in an effort and hard work to support the Zeeland-based firm entice and retain engineering and software talent.
The Tier 1 provider of goods for the automotive, aerospace and hearth protection industries moved into next-ground business office room at 25 Ottawa Ave. SW. Gentex (Nasdaq: GNTX) is leasing the room from Franklin Companions.
Gentex, which is Ottawa County’s most significant employer, ideas to transfer about 40 staff associates from Zeeland to the tech hub to aid create the new business, but the remaining area will be crammed as the company recruits new program and engineering talent from in the course of West Michigan, stated business spokesperson Craig Piersma.
The workplaces can accommodate up to 100 men and women and also incorporate accessibility to facilities together with a health and fitness centre, meeting facility and bike place.
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“Gentex frequently needs leading expertise, in particular engineering and computer software technologists who can assistance our escalating business enterprise and increasing product portfolio,” Neil Boehm, Gentex’s chief technology officer, claimed in a statement.
Amid a broader, 10-calendar year hard work to create Grand Rapids as a Midwest tech hub, Gentex is leasing the place of work room to “appeal to spot tech industry experts who may desire doing work in a vivid metropolis center,” Piersma explained.
The company’s announcement arrives on the initial working day of Tech Week Grand Rapids, a weeklong assortment of occasions highlighting the region’s tech local community.
Randy Thelen, president and CEO of financial enhancement firm The Appropriate Put Inc., which helped start the regional tech strategy past yr, mentioned it’s fascinating to see a tech-centered business continuing to expand in the region.
“This transfer by Gentex aligns with our region’s target of starting to be just one of the leading tech hubs in the Midwest,” Thelen claimed in a assertion. “This new space will accelerate the advancement, retention, and attraction of best tech talent to West Michigan.”
Greenleaf Rely on also expanded its offices at 25 Ottawa Ave. SW this calendar year, backfilling some of the business office room that Corewell Well being vacated in March.
The downtown know-how hub is Gentex’s second enlargement in the town of Grand Rapids, adhering to the company’s current start of a satellite generation facility in the Madison Sq. community. The facility generates sub-assembly parts for the company’s HomeLink merchandise, which is used for operating garage doorways and other property automation products. The plant is found at 355 Cottage Grove St. SE, which is owned by an affiliate of Rockford Construction Co. Inc.
Gentex is the largest employer in Ottawa County, with much more than 6,000 workforce working at the company’s most important campus in Zeeland and other close by facilities on the lakeshore.
The new tech hub is amongst various methods the corporation has been performing to appeal to and keep expertise in current a long time. In 2021, Gentex introduced Spanish-talking assembly strains for West Michigan’s expanding Hispanic community. As very well, Gentex broke ground in Could on a childcare and preschool intended to offer its personnel with accessibility to good quality, very affordable on-web-site daycare.
The childcare facility is established to open up in late 2024 on Gentex’s Zeeland campus, and is designed to accommodate little ones of both of those 1st- and next-shift employees, with a capacity intention of up to 250 children per shift.
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