Businesses growing on several fronts in KC region

From animal health to the automotive supply industry and manufacturing, the metropolitan area has recorded a spate of recent business expansion announcements. A sampling:

LMV Automotive Systems, an auto parts manufacturer, recently completed a $90 million expansion and held opening ceremonies for its new training center in Liberty.

The expansion brought LMV’s footprint to 469,000 square feet, doubling its former size. It employs about 340 people at the manufacturing facility, which makes welded body assemblies for automakers. The company broke ground in 2012 on a $42 million facility to make Transit van parts for the Ford Assembly Plant at Claycomo.

LMV’s new training center, expected to train hundreds of employees in welding, robotics and other manufacturing skills, also works with the Northland CAPS program to give students hands-on experience in the field.

The Kansas City Council recently approved rezoning of nearly 11 acres near 29th Street and Wheeling Avenue for expansion of May Technology and Manufacturing. The expansion is expected to allow addition of up to 30 new jobs.

May Technology, a high-tech parts manufacturer for the aerospace industry, has evolved from a machine shop started 50 years ago. The company said last year that it planned a $12 million expansion and investment of $7 million in new equipment.

On the Kansas side of the area, Ceva Biomune, a vaccine production division of Ceva Animal Health, broke ground last week on a $20 million, 38,000-square-foot project that will expand its production capabilities near the intersection of 87th Street and Rosehill Road in Lenexa.

The new facility, which will make swine and poultry vaccines, will add to about $65 million in campus investments the company has made at the Lenexa facility since 2005. Ceva currently employs about 420 in the Kansas City area.

Near to the Ceva campus, Sparhawk Laboratories, a producer of generic animal health products, intends to double the size of its Lenexa operations with a nearly 100,000-square-foot expansion at 12340 Santa Fe Trail Drive. Sparhawk was founded in 1987 and had grown to employ 80.

Also in Lenexa, Cosentry recently expanded its data center at 14500 W. 105th St. The company provides information technology services such as cloud storage, co-location, networking, recovery and backup.

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 2:37 PM.