How economic development begets economic development: Impression Inks, a fast-growing, young company in Fort Worth, Texas,was looking around the West for a second site.
As executives were looking at cities around the region, one of Impression Inks' biggest customers Pro-Line Printing decided to build a new plant in Washoe County.And it encouraged Impression Inks to move nearby.
Impression Inks was sold on the idea, and the company plans to be operating within about 90 days at a new facility at 1450 Kleppe Lane in Sparks.
In an application for state economic development incentives, the company said it expects to employ 10 workers at an average wage of $17.22 an hour.
Jesse Samaniego, one of the company's founders, said last week that the company projects its employment at Sparks will reach 20 within a couple of years.
He said initial production at the Sparks facility will be approximately 5 million pounds of ink annually.
The company estimates that the Nevada operation will nearly match the annual production of its Texas facility where it produces 16 million pounds annually as it cracks new markets in the West.
Its customer list, which ranges from newspapers to smaller printing operations, is growing rapidly in California, he said.And even in Salt Lake City, the company is selling about $1.5 million in ink annually.
The company leased 42,592 square feet of space in a deal brokered by Gordon Zack of CB Richard Ellis in Reno.
Zack said the vacant building previously housed a plastics manufacturer.
Samaniego said the building will house ink manufacturing and distribution operations.
Manufacturing, he said, is essentially a blending operation that combines varnish, pigment and petroleum.
"It's like baking a cake,"he said.
In its application with the state Commission on Economic Development, the company projects that it will invest $1.1 million in plant equipment.
Next up, Samaniego said, is the search for a staff.An Impression Inks employee from the Texas facility will be the manager of the Nevada operation, which will operate as a separate company known as Impression
Inks West.
