Titan LED president sees Warren sites

By Ed Runyan | May 18, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Brian Hennessy, president of Titan LED.

WARREN

The mayor and his safety-service director continue to court a California LED lighting company with hopes of providing it with space in the city to establish a manufacturing, sales and distribution facility.

On Tuesday, Mayor Michael O’Brien and Safety-Service Director Doug Franklin introduced Brian Hennessy, president of Titan LED, to the news media and said that O’Brien and Franklin had shown Hennessy several possible Warren industrial sites. O’Brien and Franklin also contacted state officials regarding incentives they hope will be available to the company.

“We’re very excited about one of the sites,” Hennessy said, adding that he is also hopeful the state can make investment in Ohio attractive for the company.

Hennessy says he is also talking to officials in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma but is especially interested in Warren.

“We’re intrigued by your city and your state,” Hennessy said, adding that the quality of the work force and availability of blue- collar and engineering workers makes Warren attractive. Hennessy said the high unemployment rate is a plus.

He hopes to have a site selected by the end of the month because the company wants to move its lighting production from Asian countries to the United States as soon as possible.

Hennessy believes marketing Titan LED products as being American-made will help Titan secure a larger share of the growing LED lighting market.

Currently, about 65 percent of Titan’s products are manufactured overseas, which is similar to many of Titan’s competitors, Hennessy said.