GERALD HENN Grant clears way for new building

Set to open in the fall of 2003, the new plant will decorate collectible plates and pottery.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
LORDSTOWN -- More jobs are coming to the Workshops of Gerald Henn, now that the state has approved a $400,000 grant to bring sanitary sewers to a new industrial park on state Route 45 across the street from the company's headquarters.
Gerald Henn, owner and president of the basket and pottery- making business, said he expects to create 51 jobs over three years at a new pottery decoration plant to be built on the site.
Set to open in fall 2003, he said, the 25,000-square-foot building will provide hand decoration and finishing of collectible plates and pottery.
Will anchor park
The new plant will anchor the Henn family's new, 200-acre Lordstown Industrial Park, he said. Owners believe its location near the General Motors Lordstown Assembly Plant could be ideal for prospective supplier businesses that may move to the area to do business with GM.
"Not only are we expanding and creating new jobs, we also have the potential to create a lot of new jobs with a new industrial park right across the street from GM," he said.
The Trumbull County Planning Commission applied for the funding from the Ohio Small Cities Development Block Grant in April to extend sanitary sewer lines along Tod Avenue south of Salt Springs Road to Hallock-Young Road.
Gov. Bob Taft announced the grant approval Monday. The grant is administered by the Ohio Department of Development.
Henn said Lordstown will contribute 40 percent of the sewer cost, the company will pay 10 percent, and the state grant will pay the remaining 50 percent.
"This was a longtime project; there were a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of people deserve credit for making it happen," he added, acknowledging the efforts of village and county officials, as well as his own staff.
About the company
Founded in 1982 on the original Henn family homestead in Lordstown, the Workshops has 120 employees at its Lordstown headquarters, about 100 at its pottery plant in New Waterford, and about 35 in a pottery decorating shop in Darlington, Pa.
The company also has more than 2,000 independent sales consultants around the United States and in U.S. military bases around the world.
Henn said he originally planned to close the Pennsylvania plant and move its operations to the new Lordstown facility.
Business has been good at the Pennsylvanian operation, however, and a pottery decoration competitor's plan to close down could bring in more orders.
Henn said he may decide to move only part of the Pennsylvania plant's business to Lordstown, or he may open the second plant and keep both operating.
The Henn Workshops specialize in reproductions of basketry, pottery and Shaker wood boxes like those produced by American craftsmen in the 18th and 19th centuries.
vinarsky@vindy.com