HandCraft Healthcare Linen & Uniform Specialists, a provider of linens and apparel to hospitals and other medical facilities, plans to open a new plant in Wilson, N.C., that is expected to employ 125 to 150 people.
The Richmond, Va.-based company will invest $15 million to $16 million in the plant to be located at the Wilson Corporate Park near I-95, according to Keith Nichols, company president.
“When we first started discussing expanding in North Carolina, we originally looked in some nearby larger cities, but they weren’t able to provide what we were looking for,” Nichols said. “We stepped back and really looked at what we needed and realized Wilson was the right choice based on both location and economics. This new facility in Wilson will allow us to further solidify our connection with North Carolina and guarantee continued, excellent service for our customers.”
HandCraft manages over 35 million pounds of medical linens and apparel annually for more than 50 hospitals and 800 medical practices in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. The company rents the highest-quality sheets, blankets, scrubs, gowns and more to its customers, picking up any soiled items for laundering and sanitization at its plants while dropping off clean linens and apparel.
The Wilson plant will provide sanitization and laundering primarily for medical facilities in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
The plant will open in what is now a 97,000-square-foot industrial park shell building, which the company recently purchased for $2.82 million from Wilson County Properties, Inc., a private nonprofit development corporation that partners closely with the Wilson Economic Development Council.
HandCraft will extensively upfit the building to accommodate, among other things, a ceiling conveyor system that continuously delivers bags of laundry through its high-tech washing process.
The company plans to open the Wilson plant by mid-October 2020, with most of the hiring occurring about two weeks earlier.
“We are excited to work with HandCraft and welcome them to Wilson,” Mayor Bruce Rose said. “It is gratifying to see a new addition to our life science community.”
Rob Boyette, chairman of the Wilson County Board of Commissioners, noted that city and county investments in a shell building program had paid dividends once again.
The Wilson plant will be the family-owned company’s second one in North Carolina. Earlier this year, HandCraft opened a plant in High Point expected to employ 150 people at full production.
Local and state partners supporting the Wilson project include the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, the Wilson Economic Development Council, the City of Wilson and Wilson County.