On July 1, 2011,
Verst Group Logistics broke ground on an expansion of its Hebron facility that will double the size of the current 200,000 square-foot facility. The expansion is not only structural: approximately 25 new positions will be created, adding to the existing 35 full-time and 100 temporary employees at the Northern Kentucky facility.
Verst Group Logistics offers fully integrated packaging, warehousing, transportation, and logistics services for industries as diverse as food and grocery, automotive, health and beauty products and building materials, serving customers as well-known as Kraft, Kroger, and Proctor & Gamble.
According to President and CEO Paul Verst, the expansion is a necessary and strategic result of incredible growth for the business.
"Our contract packaging division has had double-digit growth for the last several years," Verst says. "The division was taking up 100,000 square feet of the current facility, and this year took over the entire building, pushing other departments into a leased space. And the contract packaging business is only 7-8 years old."
"The expansion of contract packaging," he adds, "should fill up the majority of the new space next year."
Paul Verst is the second Verst to lead the company. Paul's father, William G. Verst, founded the business in 1966, purchased the J.C Buckles Warehouse in Cincinnati in 1968, and continued to nurture and grow the business for 27 years, building Verst Logistics Group into a world-class third-party logistics operation.
Paul grew along with the company, and became President and CEO in 1993.
"Working alongside my dad really helped me to learn the ropes of the warehousing and transportation business," says Verst. "He's always been a great mentor to me."
While Verst is a family business, rising up the ranks requires merit and experience.
"My kids are three of 27 grandkids," says Verst. "My siblings and I have guidelines for our kids. If they want to come into the business, they have to work their way up, go to school, and have outside experience with other companies."
The Verst family considers Northern Kentucky home, but the expansion of business in Hebron was due in large part to the merits of the area for the business -- its proximity to the airport and I-275 -- as well as the incentive package created by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, with support from Northern Kentucky Tri-ED, Boone County, the Chamber of Commerce, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, which sold Verst some of the land for the facility.
"We were offered a nice incentive package to expand here instead of Ohio," notes Verst. "To all those involved, we feel a great deal of gratitude."
And with Verst's expansion in the area, Northern Kentucky invests in a company that believes investing in the region and its people is a cornerstone of commercial success.
Verst has taken seriously the call to make businesses more sustainable, for example.
"We believe in doing right for the environment," Verst says. "It's the socially responsible thing to do. We have teams that work on different initiatives to reduce impacts on the environment, reduce landfill use, and we're recycling a lot more now."
The expanded Hebron facility is expected to achieve U.S. Green Building Council LEED Silver status as an environmentally sustainable building, and all of Verst's facilities are moving toward more sustainable practices, including changing light bulbs at nearly all 14 facilities to low-carbon fluorescent lighting.
"Anything we can do that's good for the environment and our people is also good for our profits," says Verst. "When we take care of our people and the environment, we expect to make a positive impact on our profits as well. It's got to be all three."
Pictured: Paul Verst addresses the crowd at the company's recent Hebron, Kentucky ground breaking celebrating its 200,000 square foot expansion and the creation of 25 jobs.