Columbus McKinnon Corp. is moving its headquarters to Charlotte from the Buffalo area of New York within the next 18 months and will look to grow its local headcount, the Charlotte Business Journal reports. The move will include CEO David Wilson and the company’s other top three executive leaders.
Eric Bormann, a Columbus McKinnon spokesperson, said the move will bring the leadership team closer to the company’s customers and manufacturing facilities.
“The relocation of our Buffalo-based Executive Leadership Team supports the advancement of our overall growth strategy and aligns our leadership into a more cohesive, localized unit, as this move will allow the majority of our ELT to be in one physical location,” Bormann said in an email.
He told CBJ that the company will move from its current office to 13320 Ballantyne Corporate Place, where it will lease the top two floors. Columbus McKinnon plans to hire an additional 100 employees in Charlotte over the next five years, Bormann said.
In addition to the executive leadership team and new hires, that office will house more than 60 research and development employees, he said.
The company, which makes hoists, cranes and motion-control systems, also operates a manufacturing facility about 55 miles southeast of Charlotte in Wadesboro.
The move comes after Columbus McKinnon bolstered its Charlotte presence three years ago. In 2019, the company spent $3.1 million on an R&D center here, adding 25 jobs to its local operations.
“For many years we have had a strong presence in North Carolina, with plants in Charlotte and Wadesboro, and in 2019, we invested in a Research & Development Center of Excellence and facility expansion to allow for additional growth positions in Charlotte,” Bormann said. “This decision is a natural continuation of those investments.”
Bormann said the move will only affect the four executives and there will not be any “layoffs or cutbacks” at its Getzville, New York, location as a result of the move. The company reported 166 jobs there earlier this year.
“Columbus McKinnon is continuing our presence in Getzville, and it will be business as usual with the exception of the four ELT members,” Bormann said. “In fact, the company is actually currently integrating the work of the Boardman, Ohio, site into the Getzville Customer Service organization.”
Columbus McKinnon is the sixth-largest public company in Buffalo. The company’s revenue of $906 million for fiscal 2022 was a 39% increase over 2021.
