Northern Indiana update: the region's top business stories.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Zentis North American Food Solutions LLC, Allen Foods

New to the region. A $36.5 million investment is under way in Marshall County, reports Doug Anspach, executive director of the Plymouth Industrial Development Corp. Zentis North American Food Solutions LLC, a fruit-processing company that supplies Dannon, Yoplait and others, will employ about 150 at the first North American operation of the German-based parent company. It's taking over a facility in Plymouth vacated in November by Ready Pac, a salad and fruit processor that had employed about 200 until closing this year. "This is a top-quality company making a mega investment, a real home run," Anspach says.

Elkhart is welcoming newcomer Allen Foods, which is completing construction of a 250,000-square-foot "very high-tech" bagel and bread baking facility slated to open early this year. The plant will employ about 100, says Bill Bradley, executive director of the Economic Development Corp. of Elkhart County.

Kosciusko County hopes to soon see local ethanol production. Louis Dreyfus Corp. has optioned 182 acres, with purchase contingent on rezoning to agricultural industry use.

Expansions. In Warsaw, orthopedic device manufacturer Zimmer Holdings Inc. is spending $5 million to purchase and equip a 130,000-square-foot site in Boggs Industrial Park, formerly occupied by the now-closed Kimble Glass. That increases Zimmer's local facility space to more than 2.3 million square feet, reports Joy McCarthy-Sessing, president of Kosciusko Development Inc. and Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce. The newest building will be the headquarters for the Zimmer Trauma Division, formed in 2005. In all, the company employs about 2,200 in Warsaw.

Expansions in Plymouth include a bricks-and-mortar project at Hoosier Tire and Rubber, which employs 300 making racing and standard tires, and American Container, which recently bought a vacant site for a second facility It makes plastic and cardboard corrugated boxes, employing 50. Also, newcomer Corpak has begun production of corrugated pizza and other boxes as well as foam packaging products, with plans to soon employ about 50.

In South Bend, PEI-Genesis is spending $10.3 million on a new, 14-2,000-square-foot building and machinery The company currently employs 140 and will add another dozen when the project is complete this summer, says Patrick McMahon, executive director of Project Future, St. Joseph County. PEI makes electronic connectors for computers, military equipment, space vehicles and more.

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