Ground was ceremoniously broken Thursday on Tempur Sealy’s $138 million foam pouring manufacturing facility near Crawfordsville, as local officials celebrated the global mattress company’s arrival as a transformative moment for Montgomery County.
The 754,000-square-foot plant, which will be the world’s largest Tempur Sealy facility, is slated to open in the spring of 2023. At least 350 workers are expected to be employed by 2025.
“Our community today is a place where folks like Tempur Sealy — a respected and revered company — want to be a part of,” John Frey, president of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, said during the ceremony.
“My message to all current business and industry leaders in our community: this is about you making the right decisions years ago to build your business in Montgomery County,” Frey added, “and the outside world still sees our community today just like you saw it years ago as the right place to be.”
The facility, which is being built on farmland between C.R. 250E and Nucor Road, will make bedding products and components. It will be Tempur Sealy’s third foam pouring facility in the United States. The company is currently recruiting managers and plans to open a recruitment and training center in Crawfordsville next year.
Tempur Sealy executives say the expansion to west central Indiana is proof of the company’s growth — from an upstart brand that struggled for retail floor space against more established names in the early 1990s to a top-seller of mattresses.
“You probably remember the commercials with the lady jumping up and down on the bed with a glass of wine. Well, that was Tempur 30 years ago,” said Cliff Buster, North America CEO for Tempur Sealy International.
As demand for the company’s products grew and executives realized the capacity of the two foam pouring facilities in Virginia and New Mexico would be exceeded, the search for space to build another plant got underway. Montgomery County was selected in June.
The plant will be built on 130 acres of land with the capacity to expand to 1 million square feet.
“The Crawfordsville and Montgomery County team did a very thorough job of assuring us that Tempur Sealy would be a good long term fit in the community,” said Scott Vollet, Tempur Sealy International’s executive vice president of global operations.
At the ceremony, Tempur Sealy announced the donation of a total 30 mattresses and pillows to the Crawfordsville Fire Department and Through the Gate, a Linden residential facility for women struggling with addictions.
Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton said the company was making a “huge investment” that will “propel them into the future” as a bedding industry leader.
“The sense of family in our community and in their company are remarkably similar, and the fit couldn’t be better,” Barton said.
U.S. Rep. Jim Baird (R-Greencastle), who was also on hand for the groundbreaking, praised the teamwork among local dignitaries to land the company.
“I really think it comes down to having the kind of attitude among our people — the work ethic and the can-do attitude that you have in Montgomery County and west central Indiana to bring this kind of economic base,” Baird said.
