Cambridge, Ohio Just Got a Factory Worth Bragging About

Here's a good one out of Guernsey County: an Ohio-based contract manufacturer called Velocity Group opened a new 80,000-square-foot factory in Cambridge, Ohio in early September, as reported by Manufacturing.net this month. The company expects the new plant to triple its production capacity — real machines, real floor space, real making-of-things, in a small eastern Ohio town that has been making things for a very long time.

What happened

Velocity Group, which specializes in high-mix, low- to mid-volume assembly, injection molding and tooling for electronic and electromechanical products, consolidated its three previous facilities under one roof and added more than 25,000 square feet of production space, along with new machinery for demanding industrial, electronics and medical applications. This isn't a paper announcement about something that might happen someday. The plant is open, and it's built for serious work: the facility includes a Swiss CNC lathe for precision machining of small, tight-tolerance components like connectors, shafts, fittings and medical device parts, plus injection molding in an FDA Class 7 clean room for medical device manufacturing.

Why it matters

The word you keep bumping into in the coverage is domestic. The new plant opened with the advantage of an onshore location that eliminates the potential complications of using offshore suppliers. Founder Kent Savage put it plainly: "Manufacturers are increasingly looking for domestic suppliers that can move quickly." Some of that demand is very of-the-moment — the factory will support complex, high-precision components and assemblies, including those needed to run data center power, cooling and networking systems. So the machinery humming in Cambridge is, in part, the machinery behind the machinery of the modern internet. Not bad for a town most people know as an exit off the interstate.

A town that has always made things

If any place deserves this, it's Cambridge. The county seat of Guernsey County sits at the crossroads of Interstates 70 and 77, about 75 miles east of Columbus, with a population of right around 10,000. And it has a maker's pedigree that goes back more than a century: in the early 1900s, Cambridge became known worldwide for its production of quality glass, mainly from The Cambridge Glass Company, whose pieces remain much sought-after collectibles today. The tradition never really left, either. When Cambridge Glass closed in 1954, Thomas Mosser — who had learned the trade there from his father — decided to carry on the area's glass tradition, and in 1959 started manufacturing glassware in an abandoned chicken coop. Mosser Glass is still family-operated today. A town where a chicken coop can become a glassworks is a town that understands what a new factory means. It's the same story in a lot of the places we love — which is a big part of why we built our Ohio collection in the first place.

Go see it for yourself

You can't exactly tour a clean room, but Cambridge makes it easy to spend a day around people who make things. The National Museum of Cambridge Glass preserves the legacy of the Cambridge Glass Company, which produced some of America's most exquisite handmade glass from 1902 to 1958, and you can tour Mosser Glass to see its showroom and watch skilled artisans make beautiful pieces. Visitors are encouraged to buy a "Glass Pass," which grants entry into the many glass manufacturers in the area — and the level of craftsmanship will give you a new outlook on art glass. Go in the morning, watch molten glass become something worth keeping, get lunch downtown, and drive home feeling better about the state of things. Wear your O-H Tee and somebody in Cambridge will finish the chant for you — that's just physics in Ohio.

Common questions

Where exactly is the new plant?

The new 80,000-square-foot factory is in Cambridge, Ohio, between Columbus and Pittsburgh — right at the crossroads of I-70 and I-77, which makes it an easy stop if you're crossing the state.

What will actually be made there?

The facility handles high-mix, low- to mid-volume manufacturing of electronic and electromechanical products for industrial, electronics and medical applications, including components needed to run data center power, cooling and networking systems.

Is Cambridge worth a visit if I'm not into factories?

Yes. Guernsey County blends rich history with small-town charm — home to historic sites, scenic parks and cultural attractions like the National Museum of Cambridge Glass and Dickens Victorian Village. If you stay the night, check out the inns and bed & breakfasts in the historical downtown.

Reported by Manufacturing.net. Details as published at the time of writing.