Grow your Business in Buffalo Niagara.

Surmet is a Massachusetts-based advanced materials manufacturer with operations in Buffalo. The company produces high-tech transparent ceramic powders and coatings used in aerospace and defense applications. Surmet was investing in new technology and equipment in order to consolidate its forming and heat-treating capabilities into one location where it would produce transparent ceramic windows, lenses and armor. For this expansion of capabilities, space, and workforce, Surmet considered several options including Buffalo Niagara and at its headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Incentives: Empire State Development Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit award, New York Power Authority expansion/retention power allocation, Erie County IDA sales tax abatement

Founded in 1953, John Bead is now under direction by its third-generation owner. Headquartered in Toronto, the company assembles specialty bead and craft kits sold wholesale to large retailers, DIY jewelry makers via a retail outlet, and everyone in between. The company had long considered a U.S. expansion to capture further market growth and avoid logistic delays. John Bead’s leadership team wanted a U.S. location in close proximity to its Toronto headquarters, as well as a strong workforce that would allow its family-oriented values to permeate through the new operation.

Incentives: Empire State Development Excelsior Jobs Tax Credits

Larkin Express Logistics is a startup third party logistics (3PL) company, providing traditional 3PL logistics services, focused primarily on connecting shippers with carriers (truck owners). The team in Buffalo will include business development, operations, and account management professionals. The Larkin Express Logistics equity holders have experience starting and growing 3PL companies in the past. Several of the project decision makers are based in Knoxville, Tennessee, which was strongly considered for the company’s location. However, Buffalo Niagara’s talented and dedicated workforce helped convince decision makers that the project should be in Buffalo. The company has leased 2,500 square feet of office space in the City of Buffalo and expects to hire over 50 people.

New Flyer is the largest manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses in North America with 3,800 employees and thirteen facilities across the U.S. and Canada. As part of the capital plan to upgrade public transportation in the New York City area, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) awarded New Flyer a contract to refresh the entire system’s bus fleet. The contract required a portion of the final product be manufactured in New York State.

Instead of contracting the work, New Flyer decided to establish a manufacturing facility in the State to build transmission and axle sub-assemblies. These high-value parts would then be shipped to St. Cloud, MN for final assembly. To minimize costs associated with shipping parts to the Midwest, the New Flyer facilities team wanted an assembly plant as far west in NYS as possible. By locating in the most southwestern area of the state, the company determined it can save at least $250 per truckload in shipping costs to Minnesota.

Lynch Fluid Controls Inc. is a manufacturing company based in Ontario, Canada producing hydraulic and control products.They supply the aerospace, military, and material handling industries. In Canada, they own a 60,000 sq. ft. building and employ upwards of 90 employees. They started to see potential in the U.S. market in rising sales numbers on this side of the border. They were also bringing nearly half of their raw materials over from the U.S. Rather than purchasing an existing business in the area, Lynch decided on an expansion project.

OneTouch Direct, LLC (OTD) is an outsourced business-to-consumer direct marketing services firm headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The Company provides both inbound and outbound agent-based call center services including customer service, customer acquisition, and customer retention programs to many Fortune 500 companies. Dominant industry sectors include financial and banking, cellular, insurance and healthcare. OTD has three facilities in Tampa and one international location in St. Catherine’s, Ontario.