Ogden manufacturer breaks ground on $58M expansion aiming to make business greener
Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner
Chromalox employees and officials break ground on a $58 million expansion of the company's Ogden facility Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.OGDEN — Chromalox is looking at an expansion of the future.
On Tuesday, the manufacturer of “highly efficient, modular, and scalable electric heating solutions for decarbonization of process heating, steam generation, and temperature control systems” held a groundbreaking event to celebrate a long-sought $58 million, 100,000-square-foot addition to its Ogden plant.
Speaking at the beginning of the ceremony was Lois Crandell, vice president of operations for ETS (Electronic Thermal Solutions) Group, which oversees Chromalox, who said the Ogden plant has long been important and that this expansion will take it into the future.
“Our company has a long legacy of innovation in heat-based energy creation,” she said. “This facility, right here in Ogden, also has a long legacy as well, having served as the center of our advanced thermal manufacturing for the last 47 years. It all started back in 1976. Today, we commence the advancement of our capacity and our technology into the advanced, vastly expanded facility that will serve as the nexus of the next era of environmentally sustainable thermal energy support.”
ETS Group President Armando Pazos said that they have been working on planning this expansion for nearly two years.
“Today, our company is investing more than $58 million in our Chromalox expansion project with (EK Bailey Construction) to increase our capacity, create jobs and advance new manufacturing technology,” he said.
According to Pazos, the expansion will utilize geothermal energy, state-of-the-art paint booths, environmentally friendly paints, advanced filtration and other features meant to greatly help reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
Roberto Potenza, plant manager, said the expansion is much more than just an addition on to the 186,000-square-foot of facility.
“That expansion is more than a physical transformation,” he said. “That’s a promise of a brighter future for Chromalox and the communities that we serve.”
Pazos told the Standard-Examiner that officials aren’t yet sure how many additional people the new expansion will help employ, but he said construction is expected to last through late summer or early fall 2024, with full production beginning in early 2025.