BITZER Scroll, Inc. to bring 300 jobs to central New York

According to governor Eliot Spitzer, BITZER Scroll, a large independent manufacturer of air conditioning and refrigeration compressors, will create close to 300 high-end engineering and manufacturing jobs at a former General Motors (GM) facility. The company will leverage a grant from the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) to invest more than $30 million over the next five years to design and manufacture scroll compressors used by major air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment manufacturers and contractors. As part of the $1.4 million grant from ESDC, the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems committed $100,000 to BITZER for a collaborative research and development project involving Syracuse University faculty and students, which will create opportunities for internships. "BITZER Scroll could have located just about anywhere in the world, but the company chose Syracuse and central New York because we demonstrated the value of our workforce and our knowledge-based resources," said Spitzer. "We are working to bring good paying jobs back to upstate New York, and companies like BITZER Scroll will be the cornerstone for the economic revitalization that will ensure our future. That is why our proposed $1 billion Upstate Revitalization Fund is so important and why we simply can't afford to wait any longer." Richard Kobor, chief technical officer of BITZER GmbH and Holding KG and president of BITZER Scroll Inc., said, "Central New York has a wealth of resources that made it a great fit for our new scroll compressor business. We believe that we can, and will, utilize the knowledge of the workforce to overcome any challenges we may face." While BITZER has approximately 3,000 employees worldwide, the new central New York location will be just the second U.S.-based manufacturing facility for the company. BITZER chose central New York based on a number of factors, including business development incentives, local workforce expertise in compressor design, and regional strengths in energy and environmental systems research and development. A number of public and private organizations and businesses played key roles in securing BITZER's commitment to central New York. Syracuse University and the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, National Grid, the Onondaga County Office of Economic Development, the Central New York Technology Development Organization (TDO), the Manufacturer's Association of Central New York (MACNY), the New York State Foundation for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NYSTAR), and the New York State Energy and Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) all played pivotal roles to help bring BITZER to the region. BITZER Scroll currently occupies 3,300 s/f of leased space housing mostly design and manufacturing engineers. The company will immediately expand into 60,000 s/f at the Salina Power Park and expects to develop a stand alone facility in central New York by 2011.