Current operations “blend silicon-based products for the die casting industry,” said Matt Cranston, engineering manager for business.
Quaker Houghton is “all about metal working fluids. So, we make steel rolling oils for AK Steel in Middletown, to stamping and machining fluids that are used in engines,” Cranston said.
The expansion would involve forging, he added.
“Forging is high-temperature metal processing,” Cranston said. “This is a graphite-based liquid that’s suitable for very high-temperature operations. It’s a new piece of business that they see a lot of growth in by 2030.”
The business touts itself as a global leader in industrial process fluids, “improving and innovating so the world’s steel, aluminum, automotive, aircraft, machinery and industrial parts manufacturers can stay ahead,” according to its website.
Quaker Houghton is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pa., near Philadelphia, and has about 4,700 jobs worldwide. It is unclear how many employees the Kettering location has or will add with the expansion, as the business did not return messages seeking information.
The company’s Kettering site is a 49,000 square-foot building on about 8.8 acres in the far northeast piece of the city, near Walnut Grove Country Club. City Planner Ryan Homsi called the existing plant “a quiet operation. ... We don’t anticipate any of those current conditions will change as a part of this request.”
A conditional use for the expansion was approved by the Kettering Planning Commission on Monday night.
The business operates from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and no other shifts are planned with the expansion’s approval.
The Spaulding Road site was developed between 1956 and 1964 when about one-third of the current building was constructed, Kettering documents state.
Since 1964, two major additions were built onto the east side of the structure. Another addition was approved by the city in 2005, but was never built, according to Kettering records.
Since the early 1980s, the only complaints and/or property maintenance violations include five violations which did not involve product manufacturing, city documents state.
“None of the … issues are chronic and all appear to have been rectified in a timely manner,” according to Kettering records.
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