ELKHART — Voyant Beauty could have gone anywhere to expand its operations, but it chose Elkhart, according to Ron Lane, chief operating officer.
Voyant broke ground on a new expansion on Friday. Lane said the company looked at a few options, but ultimately decided on Elkhart.
“After reviewing several options, it became clear to us that the best option … was to continue to invest in Elkhart and expand our operations here,” Lane said. “I think it should be a moment of pride for the community that we chose Elkhart. We could’ve gone elsewhere.”
Cody Risner, general manager of Voyant, said he was impressed with the overall quality of the workforce in Elkhart. Risner also noted that Voyant’s top priorities are quality and safety.
In attendance at the groundbreaking were Levon Johnson, president and CEO of the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Rod Roberson and Ed Byczynski, Voyant’s new CEO.
“One of the reasons I came to Voyant is because of the commitment that they’re making across all the different businesses to continue to grow the company with key customers like P&G,” Byczynski said. “That’s going to be our focus as we go forward.”
Byczynski noted that Voyant is looking to use teamwork to improve overall operating efficiencies.
“We’ll continue to invest in good safety practices and the most important thing for us is that our employees go home with no injuries,” Byczynski said. “That’s what we do, is operate our businesses very safely, and that’s a commitment by Voyant, one of their key cultural aspects, and we’ll continue to do that.”
Voyant Beauty, with operations in Elkhart at 1919 Superior St., specializes in the development and manufacturing of high-performance personal care and beauty products. It has 12 manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada and Europe and more than 3,000 employees.