By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
July 27, 2011

Milbank Manufacturing Co. has endured 14 recessions, five wars and it’s not letting a sluggish economy stop its plans.

Over the next five years, Historic Northeast’s Milbank will hire an additional 57 employees and invest $2.7 million to purchase new machinery and equipment and add additional production lines for the renewable energy market.

Jobs will include sales and management positions, along with production and manufacturing facility employees.

“The new investment and significant job creation by this innovative hometown Missouri company is excellent news for the Kansas City economy,” Gov. Jay Nixon said in a press release.

Nixon toured the manufacturing facility July 19 and announced that Missouri had awarded Milbank a $207,000 economic incentive package to help with expansion plans.

Milbank is known for manufacturing metering equipment like residential and commercial electric meter sockets, mobile home and recreational vehicle power outlets, circuit breakers and other products. In 2009, it launched its PowerGen division product line, which features vehicle charging stations, generators for commercial and residential use, wind turbine generators and portable solar powered battery packs. An average battery pack size is 20 inches by 12 inches and can be used to power camp sites, big screen TV’s during tailgate parties, construction sites, laptops and more, said Milbank Manufacturing Marketing Manager Margaret Fitzgerald.

“It gives you a lot of flexibility. There’s no need for extension cords,” she said of the battery packs.

Asked why the company chose to expand its operations, she said, “The complexity of the world was a cue that we needed to diversify. It was no longer enough to grow; we needed to diversify.

“We’ve been powering the planet for 80 years. We want to power it for the next century. This (expansion) is how we’re doing it.

Milbank distributes its products across all the Americas and Canada, and is looking to expand into Asia. Fitzgerald said the company is also considering a partnership with the Green Impact Zone in Kansas City.

Asked what it means to have the support from the State of Missouri, Fitzgerald said, We think it’s a tremendous honor. To have that kind of recognition tells us we’re on the right track.