Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPenguin Random House LLC, the world’s largest consumer book publisher, plans to consolidate much of its U.S. distribution operations in Indiana, creating up to 313 jobs by 2016, the company announced Wednesday morning.
The New York-based company plans to renovate and add 350,000 square feet to its existing distribution center in Crawfordsville, about 45 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The project will expand the facility to 1 million square feet.
The publisher expects the expansion to be completed by October, allowing it to double annual book shipments from the facility.
Hiring should begin in August and continue through early next year, Penguin Random House said. The company said it has 310 existing employees in Indiana.
Penguin Random House did not disclose how much it would spend on the expansion, but called it “a multi-million dollar investment.”
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Penguin Random House up to $700,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $100,000 in training grants based on the company’s job-creation plans. The city of Crawfordsville approved additional incentives.
Penguin Random House was formed by the merger of publishers Random House and the Penguin Group in July 2013. It publishes fiction and nonfiction print, hardcover, paperback, audio books and e-books with about 250 publishing imprints worldwide.
The distribution consolidation will leave Penguin Random House with only one major distribution center in the United States outside of Indiana—in Westminster, Md.
The company plans to close warehouses in Kirkwood, N.Y., and in Pittson, Pa., it announced earlier this year.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.