John Kingsley, LVEDC Vice President of Finance, speaking at “An Evening with PNC Bank: Facility Planning.”

John Kingsley, Vice President of Finance at the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), was among the speakers during “An Evening with PNC Bank: Facility Planning,” held June 2 at the event center at Blue Grillhouse in Bethlehem Township.

This casual and informative gathering brought together industry experts to discuss important topics for manufacturers to consider when expanding or building a new facility, including such key elements as planning, design, layout, and finances.

Kingsley described the more than a dozen incentive financing programs LVEDC directly administers through federal state and local agencies. Additionally, the organization works in cooperation with more than 10 external economic development agencies and public and private sector partners to access more than 25 different programs.

“Our role is to help you find the best financing for your project,” Kingsley said. “We’re not trying to sell you a loan program, we’re not trying to sell you a loan project. What we’re trying to do is understand what the goals of your company are, what the project entails, and then we can help assemble the resources that will be the most beneficial for your project.”

LVEDC directly administers three loan pools, two state certified economic development financing organizations, two industrial development authorities, and one U.S. Small Business Association program, Kingsley said.

He also discussed the Lehigh Valley Lending Network, a partnership between LVEDC and 15 regional banks, which offers a single point of entry to both private and public financing. This allows businesses that are seeking financing to simultaneously access and shop commercial lending institutions and economic development resource providers.

“Our job is to make this whole process simpler for the borrower, and I think we at LVEDC do a really great job of making the process as easy as possible,” Kingsley said.

In addition to incentive loans, LVEDC can help identify grants, tax credits and technical assistance, Kinglsey said, and also offers comprehensive business expansion and recruitment services to companies considering the Lehigh Valley. This includes location assistance, regulatory assistance, and public and private resource assistance.

For more information about these programs, visit the LVEDC website or contact Kingsley at jkingsley@lehighvalley.org or (610) 266-0887.

Other speakers at the June 2 event included Ken Duerholz of Boyle Construction; Peter Christian from Enterprise Systems Partners, Inc.; and the NEPA Market Senior Executive Leadership Team.

Duerholz said it’s important to manage the project and analyze its the feasibility “from day one.” Additionally, one should plan to proficiently steer through land approvals, develop an achievable schedule that accounts for unknown obstacles, and continually monitor budget against design.

“You don’t want to do a lot of work and hire a bunch of people if the project’s not a go,” he said. “That’s always embarrassing to have tens of thousands of soft costs and not have a project.”

Christian outlined several work steps that should be done in planning and creating a layout for facility planning. This include reviewing the current flow of material and movement in the operation, determining current capacities and operational constraints, and identifying the relationships between the operational areas and the frequency of material flow.