Company to add 50 employees
By: Michael Arges
EAST WINDSOR – If the first three rules of real estate are "location, location, location," the first rule of international business may be "duty free."
While East Windsor-based Conair Corporation doesn’t enjoy "duty-free" status on the products the company imports from around the world, it does enjoy an advantageous situation that, combined with their East Windsor location, prompted company officials to expand their 411,000 square foot building on Milford Road by 200,000-square feet.
"We like this area. We like this township. It’s a good distribution center for us," noted Conair Vice President John Mayorek.
"Our business is increasing tremendously, and rather than pick up and go to a different town, I went to the township and asked if it would be possible for us to expand here," Mr. Mayorek said.
"We have found East Windsor to be a great home for our business. The location is ideal, the mayor and local officials are extremely supportive and cooperative, the local labor force is a great resource, and our employees enjoy the high quality environment for living," Mr. Mayorek stated in a press release issued jointly by the company and East Windsor Township.
The East Windsor site is the world-wide operations headquarters for Conair, which makes a variety of products including personal care products such as hair dryers, curling irons, electric toothbrushes, shampoos and conditioners. The company owns Cuisinart, a kitchen appliance company, and makes telephones under the Southwest Bell trademark.
The East Windsor site also is the distribution hub for all Conair products shipped east of the Mississippi River.
The planned construction will expand the company’s already extensive warehouse and distribution space, and it will result in about 35 to 50 new employees added to the present work force of about 350, estimated Mr. Mayorek.
"We think we do a good job here in the town. We’re not a factory with a lot of environmental issues. We’re strictly a distribution center," he noted.
Goods passing through the new space will be covered by the company’s existing Foreign Trade Zone license, Mr. Mayorek said. The license gives the company cash flow advantages by delaying the paying of duty on imported goods until they are shipped to buyers.
"About 90 percent of our product is made overseas, in the Orient, Costa Rica and other counties around the world, and you have to pay duty when you bring in this merchandise from other countries," Mr. Mayorek explained. "Well normally, you would pay the duty on the product when the boat lands and the merchandise hits the pier. With a Foreign Trade Zone license, we don’t pay the duty to the government until we actually ship the merchandise to our customers. It enables us to control our inventory a little bit better."
Duty is a substantial part of the cost of Conair products: usually about 5 to 8 percent, and there usually is a delay of weeks or even months between the time that goods arrive at port and the time they are shipped to customers.
The license at the existing site also was an incentive for Conair to expand rather than to move, Mr. Mayorek noted.