Home » Wright-Mix to invest $8.5M in Wurtland facility, create 130 jobs

Wright-Mix to invest $8.5M in Wurtland facility, create 130 jobs

Will renovate an existing building

WURTLAND, Ky. (July 7, 2017) — Wright-Mix Material Solutions LLC will invest $8.5 million in a production facility at the river port in Wurtland, creating 130 full-time jobs.

logoWright-Mix will renovate an existing building at the Greenup/Boyd Riverport at Wurtland, increasing its size to 80,000 square feet and preparing it for fully automated toll blending and bagging operations. The company also will build storage facilities to house raw materials and finished products. Work is scheduled to begin in August and the facility could start operations by January.

“We feel the location fits our distribution needs and the 50-acre size of this property will allow us to grow our multiple companies going forward,” said Shannon Wright, president and CEO.

Wright-Mix will receive raw materials via barge, rail and truck and ship its finished products by truck and train. Company owners noted access to the Ohio River and to rail service as determining factors in the decision to locate in Greenup County. A nearby quarry also played an important role in the site selection process.

Brothers Shannon and Kendall Wright founded Wright Concrete & Construction Inc. in 1998 in Pikeville and grew their portfolio of more than 20 companies. They established Wright-Mix in 2011.

Wright-Mix uses state-of-the-art blending equipment and robotics to provide customers with a variety of products including liquid based chemicals, non-shrink grouts, thin-skin liners, gunite, shotcrete and cement-based products in addition to a multitude of others.

The company packages its products in bags, super sacks, buckets and a variety of other options specific to customers’ needs. Wright-Mix currently ships throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Australia and South Africa. Its products are used in construction, mining, tunneling, drilling and other industries.

To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) in June preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $1.5 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.

In addition, Wright-Mix can receive resources from the Kentucky Skills Network. Through the Kentucky Skills Network, companies can receive no-cost recruitment and job placement services, reduced-cost customized training and job training incentives. In fiscal year 2016, the Kentucky Skills Network provided training for nearly 95,000 Kentuckians and 5,000 companies from a variety of industry sectors.