The Reporter - Gov. Corbett Tours Indian Valley Companies Asher's Choclates, Almac

News Article

By Bob Keeler

While making an election year stop at two local businesses Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Tom Corbett pointed to reduced unemployment rates since he took office.

"We're seeing jobs growing across Pennsylvania and this is just an opportunity to see it here in the middle of Montgomery County," Corbett said after visiting Asher's Chocolates and the Almac Group's North American headquarters. Although in different towns -- Asher's in Franconia and Almac in Lower Salford -- the two are neighbors along the Wambold Road industrial corridor.

The work at the two businesses includes high tech manufacturing and clinical trials, he said.

"These are good family sustaining jobs," Corbett said.

Almac, which was founded in 1968 by Allen McClay in Ireland, has about 3,500 employees worldwide, with 1,500 in Pennsylvania, 1,350 of whom work at the Wambold and Fretz roads site, Catherine Snyder, a marketing specialist, said. The business provides services including research and development, packing, labeling and distribution for the pharmaceutical industry.

The company's other Pennsylvania locations are in Lansdale, Audubon and Newtown, Snyder said.

The company moved into the Wambold Road facilities in 2010, Mark Rohlfing, vice president of operations, said.

In answer to a question from Corbett about how the company chose Pennsylvania for its North American headquarters, Jim Murphy, president and managing director of Almac Clinical Technologies, said other states also tried to interest the company in moving to their state, but one of the biggest factors in choosing the location was the talent pool.

"We thought there would be an opportunity for us to thrive in this ecosystem," Murphy said.

"Talent is one of the key drivers for us and so that made it very easy," he said. "There was also a number of other factors that Pennsylvania tried to put forward to make it helpful for us if we could hire and expand our business, so those all came into play."

Those incentives included 10 years of Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance tax breaks approved by Souderton Area School District, Lower Salford Township and Montgomery County to bring the $120 million project and new jobs to the area.

State assistance included completing the first half of the proposed connector route between the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Kulpsville and Route 309. The completed part is along Wambold Road between Route 63 (Sumneytown Pike) and Allentown Road.

Asked on his stop Tuesday afternoon about the connector route, Corbett said he couldn't give an immediate answer because his main focus is on the uncompleted state budget.

The state Senate was in the process of reviewing a fiscal code bill in connection with the budget, he said.

"That's important in order to help me decide if I can sign the budget or not," Corbett said.

The Penn Live blog reported later in the afternoon that the fiscal code bill was passed by a 26-22 vote.

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