First Chinese-Owned Manufacturer in Kentucky

Birtley, a subsidiary of Shandong Borun Industrial Processing Equipment in China, will build a new 67,500-square-foot manufacturing facility in the Blue Grass Business Park in Lexington, Ky. The company plans to create 30 to 50 new, full-time jobs and invest approximately $10 million in the project. Birtley’s products include machines used in coal preparation, mineral processing, and devices used in the power, steel, cement and port industries.

Birtley, a manufacturer of coal-processing equipment, is the first Chinese manufacturer to locate in the Commonwealth. Gray, ranked 2nd among the top green contractors in manufacturing plant construction, will provide design-build services for the new facility. For this project, Gray anticipates a total construction job creation of close to 100 utilizing a workforce of local and regional subcontractors and suppliers.

With close to 40 years of international experience, Gray, a nationally ranked engineering, design and construction firm, has designed and built over 600 manufacturing facilities across the U.S. totaling more than 68 million square feet. Currently Gray has several large projects, mostly located across the South, that are underway or recently completed including: a Michelin Earthmover tire manufacturing plant in Starr, S.C.; a Caterpillar Inc. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, N.C.; a Caterpillar Inc. manufacturing facility near Athens, Ga.; a Siemens gas turbine plant in Charlotte, N.C.; a Whirlpool plant in Cleveland, Tenn.; and multiple projects for Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

If you have manufacturing plant construction needs, please contact Phil Seale, Senior Vice President, Manufacturing Market at pseale@gray.com.