HANOVER TWP. — Missouri-based National Cart has seen sales growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic and opened its third location at 32 Earth Conservancy Drive.
Hanover Twp. officials joined Wilkes-Barre Mayor George Brown and Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce officials Wednesday at National Cart’s new location.
Rob Unnerstall, President and CEO of National Cart, and Paul Deutsch, General Manager, led the group on a tour of the 32,000-square-foot facility where it designs, manufacturers and distributes material handling products, food service products and store fixtures.
The family-owned company designs equipment for a range of businesses from grocery stores to e-commerce companies.
As the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift to e-commerce, Unnerstall said sales have grown about 35% over the last year.
“There’s already been an evolution to e-commerce shopping going on and this just accelerated it,” he said.
National Cart now employs six full-time workers and six temporary workers and Unnerstall said the plan is to grow the staff to about 20 employees.
The company is hiring manufacturing assemblers, machine operators and welders and the jobs are being advertised online. The starting pay for most jobs is $16 an hour but about $20 an hour for welders, Unnerstall said.
National Cart is headquartered in St. Charles, Missouri and has another location in Reno, Nevada.
The opening of its new Hanover Twp. location brings its manufacturing and distribution space in the U.S. to about 480,000 square feet. The company employs more than 340 at all three locations, Unnerstall said.
Company officials chose Hanover Twp. as the site for its new location because of the affordable cost of the real estate as well as distribution opportunities in close proximity to customers, he said.
“It was about reaching our client base, whether it be Boston, New England, New York or Baltimore,” he said.
Another significant factor in their decision for choosing the Hanover Twp. location was delivery costs.
“Our product is bulky. Not many of our products fit on a truck,” Unnerstall said. “We want to make sure we’re able to manufacture it economically where we’re located.”
National Cart is leasing the site from Missouri-based NorthPoint Development, said Hanover Twp. manager Sam Guesto.
“I am very pleased to have a family business such as National Cart locate in Hanover Twp.,” Guesto said. “To have someone in your own community doing design, manufacturing and distribution is something special and we’re very proud that they chose Hanover Twp. to locate.”
Contact the writer: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2115, @CVAllabaugh
