Officials host ribbon cutting, grand opening at Kaishan in Loxley

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LOXLEY, Alabama — Officials with the town of Loxley, Baldwin County, and state of Alabama joined local and worldwide leaders from the Kaishan group in hosting a ribbon cutting and grand opening on Friday, Oct. 4 with the Central Chamber of Commerce at the company’s new U.S. corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility in Loxley.

“Today is a good day for Baldwin County and the state of Alabama,” said Lee Lawson, president and CEO with the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance. “Anytime you can bring new jobs to the area is a good day.”

Lawson recognized and thanked officials who were present for Friday’s grand opening and pointed out that one official needed to be thanked who was not present, former Mayor Billy Middleton, who died in May.

“We owe a lot to Billy Middleton, not just for his commitment to the town of Loxley, but to the area as a whole,” Lawson said. “He was a true champion for his community, and he was a champion for bringing industry to the area.”

Officials joined Bayshore Construction Co. Inc., the company in charge of the construction, in breaking ground in July of 2018 on the 65,000-square foot facility.

The Loxley location brings 62 new manufacturing jobs and plans to bring more than $11 million in capital investment to Baldwin County during its first three years of operations.

In addition to Lawson, other speakers included Keith Schumacher, CEO of Kaishan Compressor USA, Loxley Mayor Pro Tem Kasey Childress, speaking on behalf of Mayor Richard Teal, who was unable to attend; Baldwin County Commissioner Joe Davis, Rep. Harry Shiver, speaking on behalf of the Baldwin County Legislative Delegation; and Kevin Cao, president of Kaishan Group, who spoke through an interpreter.

“When so many companies are outsourcing manufacturing overseas, we are committed to manufacturing products right here in Alabama, made by the people of Alabama,” Schumacher said. “We are proud to be a part of this community and want to do whatever is in our power to support this community.”

With modern, specialized manufacturing facilities positioned in seven strategic locations, Kaishan’s global reach and diverse portfolio of highly engineered products have built a strong reputation for meeting the needs of their multi-national company clientele. With a 60-year track record, Kaishan has steadily grown to become a significant engineering and production company supplying compressed air, refrigeration, power generation and mining equipment to over 60 countries and regions, including Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia, Africa and Latin America.

Cao welcomed Carl Stokley with Kaishan’s Australian group and said over the weekend, Kaishan would be welcoming CEOs from its other companies from around the globe.

“This is part of our commitment to be known, not as just a Chinese company but as a global company,” Cao said. “I said this last July and I want to say again that we are committed to continuing to expand our facility here in Loxley and plan to do so in the near future.”

Following the ribbon cutting ceremony, officials and media were invited to tour the Kaishan facility in Loxley.

For more information about Kaishan and job openings, please visit KaishanUSA.com.