NYSEG has worked closely with Synthes from the time we arrived in Chemung County, starting with our leased start-up facility in 2001, through the 2005 construction and 2007 expansion of our permanent facility.
NYSEG continues to work closely with our team to improve the electrical infrastructure within our
[97,000-square-foot] facility.”
– Ron Lerner
Plant Manager,
Synthes
Synthes
Utility Infrastructure Incentive Program
Location
• Big Flats
Products
• Orthopedic instruments and implants used to repair bone fractures
Project Details
Synthes USA is a $2-billion global company with headquarters in West Chester, PA, and Zurich, Switzerland that produces orthopedic instruments and implants for repairing bone fractures, deformities and degenerative disorders. In 2001, Synthes leased a 35,000-square-foot plant in Horseheads, NY, and in 2004, the company broke ground on a 75,000-square- foot orthopedic implant factory in Big Flats, NY.
These operations were a success for the company and in 2007, Synthes broke ground on a $8-million, 25,000- square-foot expansion of this plant to help Synthes’ Big Flats facility support additional new products and volume increases of current product lines.
New York State Electric and Gas supported this expansion through their Look Upstate New York economic development program to help offset the costs of electric infrastructure upgrades. This was in addition to a grant from New York State’s Empire State Development Corporation. The result was more capacity to support new Synthes products and increased production of existing products as well as the retention of 300 high-paying local jobs and the addition of 100 new positions over
the following three years.
Community Impact
• 100 new high-skill jobs
Work force, R&D,
quality of life
Tens of thousands of New Yorkers
have job skills needed by precision manufacturers. There are nearly 54,000 carpenters, 34,000 electricians, 96,000 operations managers, 15,000 machinists, 9,000 welders and more than 19,000 industrial truck drivers in
New York.1
Our labor costs are lower than most leading industrial states, our work force standards are higher, and our training and educational resources are far greater. Large populations of industrial manufacturers and skilled employees are found throughout New York. We have the research and development assets, strong university-industry relationships, skilled labor and quality of life required by industrial manufacturers.
• In western New York, precision manufacturing employment is more than double the national average – 28,763 employees work at 705 factories.2
• Dresser-Rand – centrifugal and reciprocating
compressors, expanders, steam and gas turbines
• Cummins Engine – diesel engines
• SKF – bearings
• Cooper Turbocompressor – products and services for centrifugal air compression equipment
• In Rochester and the Finger Lakes, nearly 25,000 precision manufacturing employees work in more than 600 factories – 46% above the national average.2
• Gleason Corporation – gears and gear machines
• SPX Corporation – industrial products and vehicle
components
• Pfaudler, Inc. – glass-lined equipment
• Nearly 17,000 skilled workers staff 229 precision manufacturing companies in the Southern Tier– almost twice as many skilled workers in this area compared to the national average.2
• Hardinge, Inc – metal cutting products
• Pall Trinity Micro Corporation – filtration and separation equipment
• Hilliard Corporation – filters, clutches and brakes
Sources:
1 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2007
2 New York State Economic Development Agency, February 2005, empire.state.ny.us
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