Two tech companies plan to expand in HamCo, create 125 jobs

Two technology-related companies will spend a total of $3.5 million to expand their Hamilton County operations and create about 125 new jobs over the next four years, state officials said Tuesday.

DuraMark Technologies Inc., a digital printer of safety labels and branding decals, plans to spend $3 million to construct a 17,500-square-foot headquarters at 6450 Southpark Drive in Westfield. Previously, the company said it would spend about $2 million on a project at the same location, which is just south of 169th Street and west of U.S. 31.

DuraMark, which employs more than 30 people in Indiana today, said it plans to add 32 jobs by 2020, nearly twice as many as the company had previously announced.

In addition, Lumavate LLC, a cloud-based software company that allows equipment manufacturers to get information to end-users via smartphones, will invest $451,000 to grow its Carmel office space over five years. The firm, led by Paul McGrath and former Aprimo executives Robert McLaughlin and John Lawrence, will lease an additional 2,500 square feet at 550 Congressional Boulevard.

Lumavate currently employs 11 people in Carmel and plans to create up to 93 jobs by 2020, with positions expected to pay more than double the state average wage.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered DuraMark up to $350,000 in conditional tax credits based on the job-creation plans. In addition, the IEDC offered Lumavate up to $1.3 million conditional tax credits.

The incentives are performance-based, meaning the companies must meet hiring goals to claim them.

Last fall, DuraMark requested a tax abatement from the city of Westfield that would save it about 50 percent on its property taxes for the project over the next 10 years. At that point, the city said the savings would total about $279,000, although the project's price tag was lower then.

“Having started the company here and with its centralized location, this allows us to service all parts of the country,” he said. “The Midwest values and great work ethic of the people who live here make it a great place to be.”

Westfield Mayor Andy Cook said officials are “thoroughly excited to see this new facility begin right here in Westfield.”

“As our community continues to grow, adding these kinds of high-wage job opportunities only helps attract new residents looking for a vibrant community to call home,” he said in a statement.

DuraMark’s new facility will replace its current facility in Westfield, which opened in 2008. The company is increasing its footprint by 12,000 square feet and gaining additional space to produce safely labels, branding decals, instructional labels, metals plates, reflective labels and skid proof labels.

In additional to printing labels directly for companies in the agriculture, construction, health care, transportation and marine industries, DuraMark also supplies companies including Toyota with label kits that can be incorporated into a manufacturing line.

DuraMark uses 100 percent digital technology to create its labels, as opposed to standard screen printing.

The company also employs more than 20 people in Milwaukee and Redmond, Washington

DuraMark plans to begin hiring in May for sales, project/account managers, business analysts and administrative roles.

Lumavate President and CEO Paul McGrath said it picked Hamilton County due to the “tremendous talent pool here in Indiana because of our world class research universities and a host of top tier colleges.”

“Couple that with a vibrant, growing technology company landscape, and Indiana becomes an extremely attractive place to launch a technology company,” he said.

Lumavate’s product allows manufacturers to rapidly generate model specific microsites for each of their products, which lets customers quickly access critical product, parts and support information directly from their mobile devices using mobile-friendly activation methods such as QR codes and text-back replies.

Lumavate is already hiring sales and marketing positions.

Mayor Jim Brainard said in a statement that Carmel has “worked hard to create a city with a positive business environment and a high quality of life so that companies like Lumavate can attract a high-quality workforce and continue to expand.”