The new building, across Webster Street from Norwood’s building 7, will increase Norwood’s total operational footprint to 725,000 square feet, a 10% increase. This latest project will bring Norwood’s total number of Dayton workers close to 1,350, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, manufacturer within Dayton municipal limits.
Located at 2017 Webster, the new building will represent the company’s eighth major expansion in 15 years.
Most of Norwood’s multi-building campus is on or around Winner’s Circle in industrial North Dayton, near the Mahle Behr auto parts plant. Norwood’s building 10, comprising about 34,000 square feet, was completed in late 2021, said Brittany Farmer, vice president of human resources for Norwood.
“This is a much bigger project,” Farmer said.
In December 2021, a 360-plus-year-old German company, Heraeus Holding, acquired Norwood, then a family-owned manufacturer who had operated in the Gem City since 1927.
Norwood has found steady success since the early 2000s in outsourced medical manufacturing solutions in three markets: minimally invasive surgery, orthopaedics and robotic-assisted surgery.
“I can tell you after being a part of eight previous expansions and now my ninth, this never gets old,” said Mark Terry, vice president of operations for Norwood.
Dayton Mayor Jeff Mims also hailed the company’s success Tuesday.
“Working in all parts of this city, and seeing this growth, is just tremendous,” Mims said.
In a 2017 interview with the Dayton Daily News, a company executive declined to offer specific figures for revenue and sales, but he said the company’s financial and hiring trajectory is positive, with growth persisting even through the Great Recession. On Tuesday, Terry said the company did not furlough any workers even during the pandemic.
Norwood has long Dayton roots. The business was born in the 1920s, going by various names in its history, including the “Dayton-Norwood Tool Co.” or the “Dayton Tool Shop.” Customers over the decades included Dayton stalwarts such as NCR, Frigidaire, Huffy and others.
By the 1970s, the company was branching into components from tooling, producing bicycle and auto parts and components in other areas.
In time, the decision was made to focus solely on medical device contract manufacturing, with the name of the company changed to “Norwood Medical” by about 2005.
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