LayerZero expanding in Streetsboro, adding hundreds of jobs

Outside LayerZero Power Systems, LLC in Streetsboro, graders, excavators, dump trucks and other heavy equipment are hard at work preparing for a major expansion. The work underway will nearly double the workforce and production capacity of the business.

The company, founded in 2001, designs and manufactures power equipment like static transfer switches, power distribution units and monitoring systems that ensure computer systems and servers remain powered safely. The products are used in mission-critical environments ranging from hospitals and banks to data centers supporting artificial intelligence.

Chief Transformation Officer Edie Reaves said the expansion is driven by surging demand for reliable power infrastructure. 

“The growth of this market is a rocket ship,” Reaves said. “All we need is the capacity to meet the demand that the market has, because frankly, there isn’t enough capacity out there for the growth rate that’s ahead.”

The global consulting and management firm McKinsey & Company estimates the need for data centers, especially those connected with artificial intelligence and cloud-based applications, will grow by 25 percent within the next 6 years, with investments counted in the trillions of dollars. Ohio is listed as an “emerging market” for data centers by the firm.

Reaves pointed out that data centers aren’t just for AI. Computer infrastructure is just as important in modern life as road and utility infrastructure. As an example, she said hospitals, police departments, telecom companies and banks all have operations that need power consistently and constantly.

The Streetsboro project includes a 120,000-square-foot expansion of the company’s existing manufacturing facility. The state of Ohio Department of Development announced the expansion, at the same time announcing that the Ohio Tax Credit Authority had approved a 1.6 percent, 10-year Job Creation Tax Credit to support the project.

Manufacturing and testing in Streetsboro

LayerZero’s facilities in Aurora and Streetsboro handle fabrication, assembly and testing of equipment. At the Aurora facility, raw copper and steel are fabricated into parts. Those components are then sent to Streetsboro, where they are assembled and tested.

Company Director of Marketing and IT Infrastructure Ryan Fenik, during a tour of the company’s Streetsboro factory, pointed to the company’s static transfer switches, which allow power to shift seamlessly between sources. The units, on the outside, look like large metal storage cabinets. The insides, however, are packed with high-tech circuitry, monitors and power switches.

“There’s two sources of power that go into each cabinet and they must constantly be on,” he said. “If anything goes out of specification, it transfers to the other source in a quarter of an electrical cycle – so fast that any equipment downstream doesn’t even know that a transfer occurred.”

The company also integrates infrared cameras into its systems to monitor for potential issues. 

“If there’s any loose connections, it’ll give you advanced notice as early as possible,” Fenik said. “It allows you to fix it before it’s a critical problem.”

Workforce development

The expansion will double the company’s production capacity.

“We think we’ll be at 700 to 750 cabinets by next summer, on a monthly basis,” Reaves said. “Today, we’re like 315.”

LayerZero currently employs about 465 people. With the expansion, the company expects to add 535 full-time-equivalent positions generating $26.1 million in new annual payroll. That will bring total employment to nearly 1,000 within the next three years.

“We need everything from associates in our production operation to engineers and technicians who can design and test the equipment,” she said. “We have software engineering, HR, finance, marketing — the gamut.”

The company has developed training programs to prepare new hires.

“It’s always a challenge to find a qualified workforce,” Reaves said. “But we teach them what they need to know for the operations.”

Support from state and local officials

Reaves praised Ohio’s role in supporting the project.

“It was easy, and I will compliment Ohio because I’ve done this work in other states and it wasn’t quite as easy,” she said. “The application process was straightforward, and the state of Ohio’s been fantastic, as has local government.”

The company’s decision to base the expansion in Streetsboro was based on technical requirements. Fenik explained that the building had the power capacity needed for testing.

“This used to be a manufacturing facility, a print facility,” he said. “It met our technical requirements for a building, and it was in proximity to our other facility. So, it just made sense.”

Community and long-term plans

Reaves said LayerZero intends to remain rooted in northeast Ohio.

“Our desire is to stay central to northeast Ohio,” she said. “We have found that because of the local school districts and the universities and colleges in the area, we really do have the resources to support our business needs.”

She also pointed to the region’s industrial heritage.

“When you think about the history of the state and the steel industry and the automotive industry, there is a lot of technical talent in the area that we can continue to tap and develop,” she said.

The company’s products are primarily installed in North America, though Reaves said international growth is a goal.

“We would love international growth,” she said. “It’s really about our partner customers, where they’re going to be and those relationships.”

Despite its growth, Reaves said the company’s culture remains consistent.

“The heart and mind of the original founders and what they wanted to create is still very much alive and well today,” she said. “That’s what makes LayerZero unique -- the real familial culture that exists in the workforce and in our facilities.”

For Reaves, the most exciting part of the expansion is the impact on people.

“What we can offer the team -- the stability of the jobs, the growth rate and what we give back to them and their families – that’s what’s exciting about it for me,” she said. “It’s spectacular to see this story and to see the continued growth that’s ahead.”