Speed North America, Inc. of Montreal, Canada will relocate its corporate headquarters and manufacturing operations from that country to a new location in Wooster.

Speed is a subsidiary of Speed France which was founded in 1978 in France and is currently headquartered in Rue de Chavanne near Lyon, France. The privately-owned company has 180 employees worldwide. 

Speed France specializes in the conversion of polyamide and copolyamide materials into high quality monofilaments for a wide
variety of applications.  These filaments are used in garden and edge trimmers, fishing lines, packaging, cables and ropes.
It manufactures product sold under the Oregon, Husqvarna and Eco labels.

Speed North America Inc. will focus primarily on the growing market in North America of garden and edge trimmers. It is relocating its Canadian operation to Ohio  in order to be closer to its U.S.-based customers.  

Speed's innovative approach to very high tech monofilament design, to which 15 patents are owned, has it positioned as a significant player in 40 countries on three continents. Their commitment to continuous improvement and investment in modern production lines, packaging machinery and quality monitoring devices is critical to maintaining this success.

The new Wooster facility clearly reflects such a commitment with a significant portion of the investment being directed toward highly automated equipment, much of which has been engineered by Speed France.   

The company will relocate to the former Bosch Rexroth building that was recently acquired by D + S Distribution. It plans to occupy approximately 70,000 square feet of space and will invest more than $4.5 million in new equipment. 

The company will create 50 new full-time jobs with an average wage of $13.50 per hour, plus $3.25 per hour in benefits. The company was assisted in its relocation with an incentive package offered by the State of Ohio and the City of Wooster.