Keith Burdette, president of the West Virginia Polymer Alliance Zone, talks with President of SOMAR Corp. Futoshi Sotani outside a facility in Davisville where the company is planning to set up a manufacturing operation to make an epoxy resin product used in the automotive sector. The company has plans to initially hire 25 employees with the potential for more growth in the future. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

DAVISVILLE — A Japanese company is looking forward to starting its work in West Virginia which many local and state officials said will help foster international relationships and provide a base for future development.

Around 30 state officials, community members and business leaders gathered in Davisville Tuesday morning at the site of where SOMAR North America Corp. will be setting up a production facility that will initially employ 25 people with the potential to grow and expand in the future.

“This is a great day for us,” said Keith Burdette, president of the West Virginia Polymer Alliance Zone. “It is a day that we have been working on for a long time to bring an outstanding Japanese company to West Virginia and here to Wood County.”

The new facility is located within the Polymer Alliance Zone Industrial Park in Davisville, utilizing the 80,000-square-foot former Pactiv building, which was a plastics recycling facility, located at 336 Polymer Way in Davisville.

SOMAR has a wide range of products and this location will be used to manufacture an epoxy resin product used in the automotive sector for electric motors, motors for electric vehicles and hybrid cars, officials said.

President of SOMAR North America Corp. Hideki Asano, right, leads a tour Tuesday of the facility in Davisville where the company will be setting up operations followed by President and CEO of Pickering Associates Ryan Taylor, center, President of SOMAR Corp. Futoshi Sotani, left, and others. The building was the 80,000-square-foot former Pactiv building, which was a plastics recycling facility, and is now being renovated to manufacture an epoxy resin product used in the automotive sector. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Mitch Carmichael, Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Economic Development, talked about the additional growth, jobs and opportunity for the people of West Virginia this facility will bring as well as the international relationships this project is helping to foster with Japan.

“We are honored to have them here to put down roots for their fourth factory in the world right here in Davisville, West Virginia,” he said. “To employ West Virginia citizens and to create great prosperity and opportunity for not only their company but West Virginia…and the value West Virginia citizens will bring to the company.”

Partnerships with over 20 companies in Japan have created over 4,000 jobs in West Virginia, Carmichael said.

President of SOMAR Corp. Futoshi Sotani, who is the third-generation leader of the company his grandfather started in 1948, said the company is growing in the United States and they are anticipating growing demand from their customers for their products, which are also used in iPhones and semiconductors as well as cosmetics, biotechnology and more.

“In the next few years we will have a big demand from our customers,” Sotani said.

President of SOMAR North America Corp. Hideki Asano (after being introduced by Keith Burdette, president of the West Virginia Polymer Alliance Zone ) spoke Tuesday at a gathering of community and business leaders to commemorate the announcement this week of SOMAR setting up a manufacturing facility at the former Pactiv building in the Polymer Alliance Zone Industrial Park in Davisville. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

He talked about looking at different sites in the U.S. and how officials in West Virginia helped him to decide on the site in Davisville.

President of SOMAR North America Corp. Hideki Asano talked about going through a number of states and cities, before deciding on the Davisville site. Its proximity to its customer base throughout the mid-western U.S. also led to this site being chosen.

“Our customers are very close,” he said. “This is the geographic center for our customers which is good.”

Asano also talked about state and local development officials who worked to get them to come to Davisville and the effort they put in to show how this facility was a good fit for the company.

“That is what brought us here,” he said.

The new 80,000-square-foot SOMAR facility located within the Polymer Alliance Zone Industrial Park in Davisville is undergoing renovations. SOMAR has a wide range of products and this location will be used to manufacture an epoxy resin product used in the automotive sector. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

The plant will initially have 25 employees with the potential for more in the future with growth.

Asano said the renovation work on the building is expected to be completed by the end of September and equipment is expected to begin to be brought in October with the hope of starting to make some prototype materials to go over with their customers. He hopes they will be in full production by September 2025.

Renovation work has been going on for over a month.

“I am looking forward to being part of the community and bringing success together,” Asano said.

Although she could not make it to the gathering in Davisville Tuesday, Lindsey Piersol, Executive Director of Wood County Development, said manufacturing has always played a critical role in Wood County.

Mitch Carmichael, Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Economic Development, spoke at a gathering of community and business leaders at the Polymer Alliance Zone Industrial Park in Davisville where the Japanese company SOMAR announced this week they are setting up a manufacturing facility. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“We’re excited to welcome SOMAR to our community,” she said. “This project has been almost one year in the making in terms of site selection and we appreciate the company representatives and everyone who worked together to land this wonderful company in West Virginia.”

Carmichael said this announcement is another indication of the economic success happening in this state as people around the world are looking at West Virginia as “the place to do business.”

“West Virginia has a great value proposition for companies that distribute throughout North America.” he said. “We are within a 500-mile radius of 50% of America’s population and 30% of the Canadian population.

“We are in a great central location, we have a wonderful transportation system and we have people who are ready, willing and able to work. West Virginia has one of the most loyal workforces in America. This is a testament to once a company locates here, they begin to expand and grow and have more opportunities. That is what is going to occur here.”