A NEW EMPLOYER AND NEW NEIGHBOR

Reprinted with permission from The News Enterprise: http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/new-employer-and-new-neighbor
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Welcome, Quest Industries.
Elizabethtown’s newest manufacturing employer does business in some major circles. Founded in the New York Metro area just 15 years ago, the company began designing bottles for personal care products including Calvin Klein Euphoria and Elizabeth Arden brands such as Red Door, Mariah Carey and Juicy Couture.
Soon the client base expanded to beverages. Quest customers range from Jose Cuervo and Skinny Girl margarita lines to Godiva Vodka and Starbucks Liqueur.
Now with bourbon business in the midst of a billion-dollar boom, Quest has expanded to Kentucky. The company has been associated with Beam Suntory products including Jim Beam Signature and Knob Creek 9. It also does design work for Buffalo Trace Distillery and Heaven Hill.
Its team of professionals are responsible for development, scheduling, production, quality and on-time delivery.
Quest’s work is highly creative and customized. No two products are identical. Production techniques range from screen printing and spray coating to heat-transfer decals and traditional labeling.
Quest actually has been operating in Elizabethtown since late last year but was welcomed formally last week by the Gov. Steve Beshear, a warehouse full of community leaders and the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation. Its investment of $10 million is expected to establish 45 jobs.
In recent decades, a majority of the new industrial jobs in our region have been tied to auto manufacturing. In this case, it’s encouraging to see a unique business with specialized services arrive. Distinctive fields like those represented by Quest provide the community with a degree of protection from economic calamity should a single industry suffer a universal setback.
In the midst of the glad handing, ribbon cutting and toasts, the welcoming ceremony introducing Quest introduced the community to the entrepreneurial mindset of Revi Reddy, the company’s founder and CEO.
He closed his remarks with a famous quote that he said drove his career: “Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.”
It’s an idea that continues to influence the company that Quest Industries has become and could impact what Hardin County makes of itself in the future with the help of this new manufacturing neighbor.
This editorial represents a consensus of The News-Enterprise editorial board.