A rendering of what the JR Automation world headquarters will look like when completed.
By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
Rita Bos was 6 years old, and her sister, Jill Karsten, was 10 in 1980 when their father, Ken Assink, started a tool-and-die business out of a pole barn at their home on Tyler Street in Olive Township.
Assink used the initials of his daughters’ first names to name the fledgling business – JR Automation. His daughters had no idea how big the business their father started would grow into.
“Dad was a hard, hard worker,” Bos said. “He was a risk-taker, too. He wasn’t afraid to try (something new).”
“(He had the attitude of) if there’s a will, there’s a way,” Karsten added.
Bos and Karsten, along with their mother, Jean Assink, joined company and city leaders Sept. 17 in turning over the first shovelfuls of dirt on the new JR Automation global headquarters at 800 E. Riley St.
“I think he’d be blown away (to see this),” Bos said of her father, who died in June 2020. “Even if he could be here for five minutes and just see this – it was his vision, it was all of his ideas.”
JR Automation is investing $72.8 million into the new facility, which will consist of a 210,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and a two-story headquarters building with about 40,000 square feet on each level that will be built on a 45.5-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Riley and 84th Avenue. The project is slated for completion in early 2027.
“This is more than a construction project. This is a strategic investment by (parent company) Hitachi in the future of JR Automation,” said Doug LaCroix, chief procurement officer for JR Automation and executive sponsor of the headquarters project. “Our goal is to build a more agile, innovative and customer-focused space that not only reflects the 45 years of global growth at JR Automation, but it positions us with cutting-edge innovation, so we grow for decades to come. It’s incredibly exciting.”
From the Assinks’ pole barn, JR Automation moved into its first plant on Tyler Street in 1985. In 1995, Ken Assink sold the business to the Huizenga Group. In December 2019, JR Automation was acquired by Japanese industrial giant Hitachi Ltd.
Dave DeGraaf, JR Automation’s chief executive officer and general manager of the Hitachi Automation Division, said the project will bring more of the company’s teams under one roof.
“We currently operate in about nine facilities in West Michigan, and being able to bring those teams together is going to be incredibly impactful and beneficial, to improve collaboration with our teams, and also make a better work environment for our teams as well,” DeGraaf said.
“It’ll be state-of-the-art with regard to facilities – fitness facilities, bike paths, natural landscaping. We want to minimize the impact that we have on the environment.”
DeGraaf added that the new headquarters will serve as an innovation hub.
“With technology advancing so rapidly and our customers demanding that type of innovation, we want to make sure we’ve got all of our teams under one roof so that way, we can provide the best concept to our customers,” he said.
JR Automation plans to expand its range of industries that it serves as a result of the new project. The company currently serves the health care, warehousing, automotive, energy and food and beverage business sectors. It employs more than 2,000 workers, including 941 in Michigan, and has 21 facilities in North America, Europe and Asia.
The new Zeeland headquarters will be home to 350 employees and is expected to create another 150 new jobs. LaCroix said that the location, at the eastern edge of the Zeeland city limits, expands the company’s ability to attract talent from across West Michigan.
JR Automation received assistance in developing the project from Lakeshore Advantage, the economic development organization that serves the Holland-Zeeland area, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Representatives from Lakeshore Advantage and MEDC joined Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and officials from JR Automation and Hitachi Ltd. on a recent trade mission to
Japan, during which the new headquarters was announced.
"This investment underscores the company’s outstanding leadership in smart manufacturing, and their commitment to growing in and with our region,” said Amanda Murray, vice president of business solutions at Lakeshore Advantage. “JR Automation continues to set the standard for smart manufacturing, pairing innovation with sustainability, and we are proud to support their growth in West Michigan’s Lakeshore region.”
JR Automation acquired the 800 E. Riley site in January at a cost of a little more than $5 million. The city’s Planning Commission approved a site plan on the project Sept. 4, one day after Whitmer announced the project. The City Council on Sept. 15 approved the establishment of an industrial development district for the site. The council is expected to approve tax breaks for the project later this fall.
“It’s one of the last large pieces of industrial land we had in Zeeland,” Mayor Kevin Klynstra said. “I’m glad we’ve got somebody like JR coming in and bringing lots of jobs, high-tech jobs, high-paying jobs. I’m very proud of that … The city of Zeeland has an industry-friendly community, and we’ve reached out and tried to work with these people and make it easy for them to come into Zeeland. I think we’ve accomplished that.”
Holland Township-based Lakewood Construction will be the project contractor.
Zeeland Record
Rita Bos was 6 years old, and her sister, Jill Karsten, was 10 in 1980 when their father, Ken Assink, started a tool-and-die business out of a pole barn at their home on Tyler Street in Olive Township.
Assink used the initials of his daughters’ first names to name the fledgling business – JR Automation. His daughters had no idea how big the business their father started would grow into.
“Dad was a hard, hard worker,” Bos said. “He was a risk-taker, too. He wasn’t afraid to try (something new).”
“(He had the attitude of) if there’s a will, there’s a way,” Karsten added.
Bos and Karsten, along with their mother, Jean Assink, joined company and city leaders Sept. 17 in turning over the first shovelfuls of dirt on the new JR Automation global headquarters at 800 E. Riley St.
“I think he’d be blown away (to see this),” Bos said of her father, who died in June 2020. “Even if he could be here for five minutes and just see this – it was his vision, it was all of his ideas.”
JR Automation is investing $72.8 million into the new facility, which will consist of a 210,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and a two-story headquarters building with about 40,000 square feet on each level that will be built on a 45.5-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Riley and 84th Avenue. The project is slated for completion in early 2027.
“This is more than a construction project. This is a strategic investment by (parent company) Hitachi in the future of JR Automation,” said Doug LaCroix, chief procurement officer for JR Automation and executive sponsor of the headquarters project. “Our goal is to build a more agile, innovative and customer-focused space that not only reflects the 45 years of global growth at JR Automation, but it positions us with cutting-edge innovation, so we grow for decades to come. It’s incredibly exciting.”
From the Assinks’ pole barn, JR Automation moved into its first plant on Tyler Street in 1985. In 1995, Ken Assink sold the business to the Huizenga Group. In December 2019, JR Automation was acquired by Japanese industrial giant Hitachi Ltd.
Dave DeGraaf, JR Automation’s chief executive officer and general manager of the Hitachi Automation Division, said the project will bring more of the company’s teams under one roof.
“We currently operate in about nine facilities in West Michigan, and being able to bring those teams together is going to be incredibly impactful and beneficial, to improve collaboration with our teams, and also make a better work environment for our teams as well,” DeGraaf said.
“It’ll be state-of-the-art with regard to facilities – fitness facilities, bike paths, natural landscaping. We want to minimize the impact that we have on the environment.”
DeGraaf added that the new headquarters will serve as an innovation hub.
“With technology advancing so rapidly and our customers demanding that type of innovation, we want to make sure we’ve got all of our teams under one roof so that way, we can provide the best concept to our customers,” he said.
JR Automation plans to expand its range of industries that it serves as a result of the new project. The company currently serves the health care, warehousing, automotive, energy and food and beverage business sectors. It employs more than 2,000 workers, including 941 in Michigan, and has 21 facilities in North America, Europe and Asia.
The new Zeeland headquarters will be home to 350 employees and is expected to create another 150 new jobs. LaCroix said that the location, at the eastern edge of the Zeeland city limits, expands the company’s ability to attract talent from across West Michigan.
JR Automation received assistance in developing the project from Lakeshore Advantage, the economic development organization that serves the Holland-Zeeland area, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Representatives from Lakeshore Advantage and MEDC joined Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and officials from JR Automation and Hitachi Ltd. on a recent trade mission to
Japan, during which the new headquarters was announced.
"This investment underscores the company’s outstanding leadership in smart manufacturing, and their commitment to growing in and with our region,” said Amanda Murray, vice president of business solutions at Lakeshore Advantage. “JR Automation continues to set the standard for smart manufacturing, pairing innovation with sustainability, and we are proud to support their growth in West Michigan’s Lakeshore region.”
JR Automation acquired the 800 E. Riley site in January at a cost of a little more than $5 million. The city’s Planning Commission approved a site plan on the project Sept. 4, one day after Whitmer announced the project. The City Council on Sept. 15 approved the establishment of an industrial development district for the site. The council is expected to approve tax breaks for the project later this fall.
“It’s one of the last large pieces of industrial land we had in Zeeland,” Mayor Kevin Klynstra said. “I’m glad we’ve got somebody like JR coming in and bringing lots of jobs, high-tech jobs, high-paying jobs. I’m very proud of that … The city of Zeeland has an industry-friendly community, and we’ve reached out and tried to work with these people and make it easy for them to come into Zeeland. I think we’ve accomplished that.”
Holland Township-based Lakewood Construction will be the project contractor.
(From left) Rita Bos, Jean Assink and Jill Karsten dig their shovels into the dirt during the Sept. 17 groundbreaking for the JR Automation global headquarters at 800 E. Riley St. Bos and Karsten are the daughters of company founder Ken Assink and Jean Assink. Ken Assink named the company using the first letters of his daughters’ names when he started the firm out of a pole barn in Olive Township in 1980.
Photo by Greg Chandler
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