Published: November 20, 2009 07:20 pm      

Interroll celebrates 10 years in Jeff

Company plans move next year

Interroll, manufacturer of specialized conveyors and sorters, celebrated 10 years in Jeffersonville with an open house on Friday.

The plant employs about 30 workers. It’s been located on New Middle Road after moving from Middletown, Ky., a decade ago.

The conveyors shown off at Friday’s tour weren’t the small, simple belts one might find in everyday life. Instead, company officials displayed a series of smart, high-end conveyors and sorters. One belt being manufactured there could read zip codes and automatically sort packages down various shoots, explained Director of Sales and Marketing Michael Brown. UPS recently purchased it.

Another conveyor demonstrated could move several packages down a line without ever letting them touch.

“Many people — if you watch the news media — they beat [Americans] up because we can’t do anything good,” he said. “But we’re doing very innovative stuff.

“Yeah we have a plant in China but we’re not bringing stuff here — we’re making stuff here.”

Plant manager Rodney Chester noted that workers at the plant were cross-trained in different specialties, as well. Someone might start out as a machinist but later learn another trade, such as welding.

Mayor Tom Galligan, on hand for the tour, expressed admiration for the company.

“When you all started 10 years ago we were glad to have you and we thought you were a good business,” he said. “Today, as I walk through here, I don’t think it — I know it.”

He commended the company on its innovation and creativity.

“If the people outside saw what goes on in this building, they’d be amazed,” the mayor said.

The company is based in Sinsheim, Germany and expanded into the U.S. in 1997, said Brown. The plant is planning a move to a more modern facility in the same neighborhood early next year.