Holmes County manufacturers keep hiring, openings span technicians, process improvement roles

Two Millersburg manufacturers were recruiting at the same time, giving Holmes County job seekers a rare close-to-home opening in both hands-on production and process-improvement work. Centor listed an Operations Continuous Improvement Associate PPP position at $24.35 an hour, while Robin Industries, Inc. was hiring for an LSR Technician role.

The openings mattered because manufacturing remains Holmes County’s core employer. The county economic-development council has called it the leading business sector for employment positions and related annual compensation, and county labor data show how deeply it is woven into the local economy. Manufacturing accounted for 35.1% of employment in 2004, 33.5% in 2010 and 36.6% in 2019, then rose to 37.11% in 2021 and 38.22% in 2022 in county-of-work data.

Centor’s posting stood out for both pay and benefits. The company said it offered medical, dental and vision coverage, 401(k) participation, competitive hourly wages, shift differential for second and third shifts, and paid time off. Centor also described itself as a longtime Holmes County employer in Ohio’s Amish Country, tracing its roots to an Owens-Illinois plant built in 1968 and saying it had grown into the world’s largest supplier of regulatory compliant prescription containers for medication dispensing.

Robin Industries brought a different skill set to the local hiring picture. The company described itself as a custom molder of premium custom molded elastomers and plastics, with work that includes complete program management, design and development, tooling development, prototyping, testing and validation, and quality control. That mix suggests demand not just for floor-level production workers, but for people who can handle equipment, troubleshoot processes and keep quality standards tight.

For workers weighing a change, the broader pay environment helps frame the Centor wage. The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association said manufacturing was the state’s largest economic sector and that Ohio had roughly 689,900 manufacturing employees in November 2022. It also put average hourly earnings for Ohio manufacturing workers at $31.38 in November 2023, putting Centor’s $24.35 starting point in context while still offering a local path into a steadier industrial schedule.

The local OhioMeansJobs office at 85 N. Grant St. in Millersburg remained a central stop for applicants looking for job search help, recruitment assistance or training referrals. With two major employers hiring in the same village, the message for Holmes County workers was clear: the county’s manufacturing base was still moving, and Millersburg remained one of the best places to find a paycheck close to home.