HAYS, Kan. (KWCH) – The City of Hays is looking to diversify its work force with a new micro factory managed by Grow Hays, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the city and promoting its growth.
The micro factory will house multiple manufacturing companies with the hope of those companies expanding and staying in Hays.
Grow Hays has been working to get the micro factory up and running since the pandemic, and now with the aid of more than $3 million in awarded grants, will be able to start the construction process and open the factory before the end of 2023.
“In its essence, it’s an incubator for manufacturers, where they’ll start their business, or if they already got a product, they can grow their business with the thought process that in a three-year period of time roughly, they’ll need a bigger space. We’ll move them out and move someone else in,” Grow Hays Executive Director Doug Williams said.
The hope is for occupants of the micro factory to grow, bringing more manufacturing jobs to Hays.
“It just gives us some more diversification and some more stability,” Williams said. “If one particular sector suffers, we have another that might be able to pick it up.”
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