PurePOWER Technologies has opened a new 13,000-sf. facility at Western Kentucky University’s Center for Research and Development that will give the diesel and emissions control systems company room to grow and create additional jobs in the Bowling Green area.
The new facility will house 25 engineers and technicians and will serve as the design and development center for PPT’s emissions control devices, valves and actuators, according to Jon Bigley, PPT’s director of engineering.
PPT’s emissions control devices started at Holley Performance in Bowling Green and was purchased by Navistar in early 2010. The South Carolina-based company moved its Bowling Green operations into the WKU Business Accelerator but quickly expanded and found itself outgrowing its space.
With the need for more space came the corporate discussion of moving the operation out of Kentucky, according to Doug Rohrer, associate vice president for Research and Development at WKU.
“We met with management and showed them we could provide a first-class facility here,” said Rohrer, noting that PPT that the “perfect type of company to keep in the commonwealth” because of their need for a high-tech workforce.
PPT’s Bigley said WKU’s center has provided a “wonderful and productive environment for research and development of our product and technologies because of its essential laboratories and high-tech resources. With the technical resources at WKU and the Center for Research and Development, we are positioned well to meet our product objectives over the next few years.”
In addition to its Bowling Green facility, PPT operates a research and development center in Columbia, S.C.; a manufacturing plant in Blythewood, S.C.; and casting foundries in Wisconsin and Indiana. With a recent Eaton after-treatment technology deal, PurePOWER now also operates a research and development facility in Santa Clara, Calif.
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