Pharmaceutical, beverage filter maker nearly up and running in Hickory

Nov 15, 2023

Gusmer Enterprises Hickory Production Manager Wally Stiehm leads a tour through the new production plant.

Gusmer Enterprises celebrated its new facility off Robinwood Road in Hickory.

A filter manufacturer that pledged to build a new Hickory plant and hire 73 people is close to fulfilling that promise.

Gusmer Enterprises, which makes filters used in beverage and pharmaceutical production, will likely be fully operational by the end of this year, Hickory Production Manager Wally Stiehm said.

The company, headquartered in New Jersey, announced in April 2021 that it would invest $38 million in a new building in the Trivium Corporate Center in Hickory and would create at least 73 new jobs by the end of 2023.

The plant already has 62 employees, Stiehm said last week. The company is actively working to hire a total of 182, he said.

The company held an open house and ceremony Wednesday to celebrate the new plant. The company has manufacturing plants in California and Wisconsin.

The facility is operating on a low level. The workflow is still being ironed out and more machinery is expected to be brought in, Stiehm said.

Gusmer built on property bought through an economic incentive deal.

The Hickory City Council and Catawba County Commissioners approved selling the land at $20,000 an acre. It was previously marketed at $95,000 per acre, according to the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation.

The 132,000-square-foot building, completed this year, is split into two main production areas.

One area is warm and muggy. It's where the filter paper is created, Stiehm said.

Thousands of paper bags filled with diatomaceous earth and other cellulose material are mixed with water and various forms of filter paper. There are large metal vats on one end of the room where that happens.

That mixture is poured into a sheet and put in a series of drying machines nearly 300 feet long, Stiehm said. At the end, the result is a piece of thick filter paper 85 inches wide and hundreds of feet long, he said.

From there, the filter paper is cut into the size and shape the company's customers need. Some filters are taken to a second area, where plastic injection molding machines create plastic cases to hold the filters. The plastic cases are designed to be stacked together, so companies using the filters can run their product through 10 layers of filter paper at a time, Stiehm said.

Gusmer's clients include breweries, wineries and distilleries, as well as pharmaceutical manufacturers, Stiehm said. The company has some East Coast clients already that the Hickory plant will make products for.

The land has space for the building to expand by 20,000 square feet if needed. Stiehm expects production to grow quickly and the space will be needed.

Diatomaceous earth is made from fossilized water plants and is a naturally occurring siliceous sedimentary mineral compound from the remains of algae-like plants called diatoms. The plants have been part of Earth's ecology system dating back to prehistoric times. The chalky deposits the diatoms left are called diatomite. The diatoms are mined and ground up to make a powder that has a look and feel much like talcum powder.

Source: gardeningknowhow.com

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Virginia Annable is a member of Lee Enterprises' Public Service Journalism Team based in the east region. Find Virginia on Twitter @annablevl or reach out at [email protected].

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