80 year old company relocates headquarters to Delaware

In what the Markell administration cites as another example of paving the way quickly for businesses that want to call Delaware home, Testing Machines Inc. cut the ribbon to their new company headquarters in New Castle Tuesday.

In what the Markell administration cites as another example of paving the way quickly for businesses that want to call Delaware home, Testing Machines Inc. cut the ribbon to their new company headquarters in New Castle Tuesday.

“This is another example of what Delaware does best: Get things done,” Alan Levin, Delaware Economic Development Office Director, said.

“We know that our success as a state is incredibly dependent upon providing an environment where entrepreneurs and workers alike thrive across a whole range of industries,” Governor Jack Markell said.

TMI, established in 1931, builds material properties testing equipment so other companies can test the efficiency of their machinery.  “How much energy does a machine use to open a bag of chips,” John Sullivan, TMI President, said as an example.

Sullivan has been living with his wife and five children in Delaware for five years.  The idea of relocating the company headquarters from Ronkonkoma, New York was first discussed last October.

Sullivan says Delaware beat out Maryland, Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey when it came to choosing a new headquarters site.

“We started this in October, and here it is the end of June and we’re in,” Sullivan said.  “Within 60 days of meeting we had the money to accomplish this, not the promise that we might have the money.”

“It really comes down to how fast states can act,” Governor Jack Markell said.

“I’m just so proud of the folks in our Economic Development Office, the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Transportation, they got their act together they made it happen and now we’ve got dozens of jobs here in Delaware,” Governor Markell said.

And thanks to the Delaware’s green energy fund, TMI’s building also has solar panels on the roof, and a geo-thermal system to heat and cool the 20,000 square foot facility.

Sullivan has a current staff of around 35 and expects to employ 40 people by the end of the summer, with 50 employees on board sometime next year.

The state gave TMI a $500,000 loan from the strategic fund.  If TMI maintains at least 50 full time positions three years from now, $100,000 of the loan will be taken off the bottom line.

“It’s not just money, it’s attitude in my opinion,” Sullivan said.