Koch Industries Employment Growth

Over the past decade, many companies ended up contracting but Koch Industries ended up doubling the amount of revenue it earns while also increasing the number of individuals employed within the company. This privately held company has managed to see such a large amount of growth, so much so that it will now be working on an expansion if its buildings, which are located in Wichita. Just last year, back in 2011, the company ended up having the overall best year it has ever had, having earned a total revenue of $110 billion. The company will likely exceed this record for this year of 2012. Ever since the beginning of 2000, the company has worked on expanding the company and has increased employment by a total of 48,000. A large portion of these employment gains have come from the acquisition of Invista, which took place in 2004. The acquisition of Georgia-Pacific Corporation also helped and that acquisition took place in 2005.

In the local area, the employment levels for Koch Industries’ had increased from 2,200 workers to 2,700 workers. With more workers, it is necessary for more space to be added onto the headquarters to avoid any issue with overcrowding. The president and COO of Koch Industries, Dave Robertson, made it clear that the company is thinking about having a new building added. The new building would help to accommodate hundreds of workers. Robertson said, “We have architects and engineers developing options for us, and we expect they’ll be finished with those options roughly by the end of September.” He also said, “And I expect we would make a decision by the end of the year.” Robertson talked about the growth of the company and how the company managed to continuously expand even during a time when other companies were suffering because of the crippled economy.

Koch currently operates several different industries. Some of these industries include fertilizer, pollution control equipment, and a number of different chemicals. The company is definitely diversified, especially since it is currently operating in a total of around 60 different countries. Some of the offices are located in areas all around the world, including France, Singapore, and even Switzerland. Robertson said, “I would say we are a manufacturing company.” He also said, “I mean, if you look at what we do, we’re making things that people use every day. Some of those … it’s very easy to see because if you go buy Quilted Northern you know that’s made by Georgia-Pacific. But when you buy gasoline, there’s a reasonable probability that could be our gasoline. But it’s a commodity so it gets blended into the … pool of energy, so it’s not as easy to see.”