LG Chem Customer Solutions Center & ABS Compounding Plant rise in Ravenna
Published By: Properties Magazine
Story & photos by Doug Bardwell

Not far from downtown Ravenna, on a 24-acre parcel at 310 Rayann Parkway, LG Chem has built a 100,000-square-foot, three-story Customer Solutions Center and a 148,000-square-foot ABS Compounding Plant. The ABS Compounding building is a one-story, pre-engineered steel building with a mezzanine and external six-story storage silos and tanks.
ABS stands for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, a copolymer plastic known for its high strength and stability. Yeonkyu (Chris) Hwang, process engineer with LG Chem, says, “A good example of a product made from ABS that everyone is familiar with is Lego bricks. Additionally, ABS is used as the body of many home appliances and parts for automotive interiors.”
So, while LG Chem does not produce consumer products, it will sell the raw materials that other manufacturers need to create their products.
First ABS plant in the country for LG
“LG Chem has more than 20 manufacturing subsidiaries all over the world,” explains Hwang, “but this is the first ABS plant in the United States.” After extensive site considerations, LG Chem shortlisted its choices down to Michigan and Ohio, as both sites placed them close to their intended customer base. Hwang explains that the other factors tors that influenced their Ravenna site selection were the availability of utilities, a railroad spur, an abundant workforce and ease of permitting.
LG Chem expects to employ approximately 100 high-tech workers to develop the polymers used to create ABS plastics. They are looking for those with master’s or doctoral degrees in chemical or polymer engineering. They plan to work three shifts, five days per week.
“We are expanding our business all over the world, especially in the States,” mentions Hwang. “LG Chem has decided to invest heavily here, so we are expanding our growth opportunity by localizing our manufacturing site in this country. It will give our customers sustainable supplies and close technical support.”
The Customer Solutions building will use testing equipment to evaluate the weatherability of various ABS formulations with water spray tests and sunshine simulations.
With a large Pilot Lab, Hwang expects LG Chem to test and evaluate multiple solutions to customers’ particular issues. “We’ll be able to provide technical support, laboratory testing and pilot-scale simulations.” “Although these are two separate projects, serving two different divisions of LG Chem,” says Hwang, “there’s great synergy having both buildings on the same campus.”

The Customer Solutions building will have research and develop - ment engineers and lab equipment that can assist the production facility, and the production personnel can likewise help the engineers with their practical experience producing the products.
Why design/build works
“Unlike a lot of other large projects I’ve been involved with,” says Vince LiBassi, project executive for Geis Companies, “LG Chem sent us an extensive preliminary design package from South Korea – from their struc - tural engineers, mechanical engineers and architects, in fall of 2021. They had a start at everything, but then our design team took it and adjusted as needed to meet our building codes and Midwestern climate considerations.”
“Looking at the site, this greenfield site was probably the best I’ve ever seen, and I’ve done lots of site work over the years,” LiBassi says. “It was incredible. Sitting up higher than the surrounding areas, the dirt was nice and dry.”
“The first challenge was the grading,” says Jim Hrubik, architect for GDOT Design. “The grading was set to provide access to the ABS Compounding building. It had to be very specific about where you could and could not enter because that section of the property sat up so high.” It’s approximately a 40-foot differential from the front to the back of the property. The ABS building was also intentionally placed far to the north-east corner of the property to allow for a third building to be added later if needed.
“For the ABS building, we were given a detailed list of equipment and some general layouts, but they weren’t complete,” explains Hrubik. “The configuration was still somewhat in flux, so the challenge was that our guys had to first put a price on what was on the drawings, and then we had to figure out how to put it together. So, a big part of this was taking that initial layout, and then, through LG Chem, they set up coordinating meetings for us with their process engineers and equipment vendors from Korea. We then had some 3D modeling sessions live with South Korea – early in the morning here or late at night there – to go through and coordinate positions, piping routing, and guarantee clearances for all the other systems.
“It was pretty fast, considering the size of the project,” recalls LiBassi. “We met in the fall of 2021 with all the LG Chem folks for the first time. They came here from South Korea and spent a couple of days here. And then, by February of 2022, we had a letter of intent. LG was adamant that we wouldn’t let the contract negotiations drag out for more than 30 days.

So, we basically locked ourselves in a room with all the lawyers, and instead of having the back and forth, we just did it the old-fashioned way and got the contract signed in person, sitting around the table.”
With the designs finalized, LG Chem purchased and shipped all the production equipment needed for the ABS building and the testing equipment for the Customer Solutions building.
“There were about 70 containers that came over from South Korea, where LG Chem had loaded these big 40-foot Conex boxes,” states Matt Rosso, project manager for Geis. “We were responsible for receiving, inventorying and installing all the equipment and piping that was provided by LG Chem.”
Mitch Godding, assistant project manager for Geis, was on-site from day one. “My original responsibility was procuring all the equipment they sent over. We were getting two or three containers every two days. So, getting that unloaded and stored somewhere on site was definitely a challenge, while allowing other work to continue around the site.”
“This LG Chem project had many challenges, and it was by no means an easy task to build this facility,” says Mark Rossman, senior superintendent for Geis. “I am very proud to be part of this team that came together, using all their knowledge, common sense and skills to overcome the challenges and successfully complete this project for such a great ownership team at LG Chem. It was truly teamwork at its best.”
First contracts – next concrete
“We started with the ABS building,” says LiBassi, “focusing on getting the warehouse portion of that building under roof and the slab poured as a critical path activity to store those 70 or 80 Conex boxes full of stuff. That really represented a completely full warehouse when you broke them all down. It was an incredible amount of equipment, down to the piping and the wire. They procured wire from South Korea, which was a very unique way to approach it. We had to procure some things locally here, but, all in all, it worked out.”

The ABS structure is actually a combination of five pre-engineered metal buildings with corrugated metal siding and standing seam metal roofs. The mezzanine is a conventional structural steel platform attached directly and supported by the pre-engineered metal building.
Geis had an electrical contractor selected early on, but they put out a bid package to local companies when it came to the mechanical and rigging work.
Rosso explains that LG Chem made the bidding process a bit easier because they provided documentation of everything that was coming: equipment, piping, wiring, and what would be in each container, along with the sizes of everything. So, the contractors bidding on the erection and the process piping knew exactly what to expect.
Frank Lucco was the successful bidder and brought out all his heavy equipment. His crew took the materials from the Conex containers and placed everything in the warehouse. Then, as construction sequencing allowed, his crew installed each piece where it was designated.
“LG Chem had a small team of engineers here the entire time we were building, so the cooperation we received from them while hooking up the equipment was invaluable,” states Godding.

Outside the ABS building are two truck scales that were installed near the railroad siding. One scale measures the empty trucks arriving, while the other weighs them after being loaded.
A bit more conventional – but certainly above average
The Customer Solutions Center looks and functions more like a traditional commercial building. Elizabeth Chlebus, architect with GDOT Design, led the team working on this building.
“This was an exciting project,” says Chlebus. “I worked on this building primarily, and we stayed very true to the exterior look of it, but it was a very cool conceptual project. Our suggested changes had more to do with the building systems, adapting them to U.S. standards. So, much of our design work for design develop - ment happened more on the interior.
As far as major differences are con - cerned, the atrium was conceptually a courtyard, which isn’t so practical in Northeast Ohio.”
With a smile, Hwang adds, “Being able to use that area all year long was one of the greatest decisions that we made.” With a knowing nod, LiBassi chimes in, “That’s the first thing Elizabeth and I do on every job. We cancel all courtyards. You’re in Cleveland – you don’t need that.”
Keeping close to the original layouts requested by LG, the GDOT team spent time efficiently locating stair towers, bathrooms and various abundant amenity spaces.
Shannon Lutterbie, an interior designer with GDOT, worked on both buildings. She had the pleasure of working with Office Revolution to specify a stunning selection of furnishings throughout the building. With a wide variety of seating options, the furniture makes a bold design statement but is also functional, comfortable and high-quality.
“We were very excited that LG Chem liked the package we proposed,” says Chlebus. “They let us have some fun with lighting, finishes and furniture – things that sometimes are an after thought – and they allowed us to really incorporate them into the design.”
When asked about the color palette, she mentions that they made sure there were instances of the LG red, as found on the building signage.
“The rest of it came from their branding package,” she says. “So, the signage on the doors and everywhere is really their branding design from their marketing side. We just took that and incorporated it with some little pops of red. The rest of it has a timeless look with neutrals and brings in some wood to give it some warmth. Our goal was to provide some longevity to the design.”
“The building’s exterior was a combination of 24-inch wide, two-anda-half-inch thick vertical and 36-inch wide, two-and-a-half-inch thick horizontal Metl-Span insulated white panels,” says Chris Rightnour, Geis superintendent. “Backing up the panels are six-inch metal studs with insulation.”
The southwest corner of the building is primarily glass curtainwall and storefront glass. Six long triangular skylights allow sunlight to flow into the atrium. Roofing for the balance of the structure is an all-white TPO rubber roof over metal decking. The steel framing is strong enough that LG Chem can expand the partial third floor onto the existing roof area if needed.

Tour of Customer Solutions Center
After passing a freestanding security booth in the parking lot, visitors will drive right up to the front door of the Customer Solutions building. The twostory-tall reception area has a training room off to the right, a large lounge and gallery to the left, and three private reception rooms. A large glass wall opens the view to the skylight-lit atrium beyond. Large angular pieces of White Fantasy porcelain stoneware flooring take their cues from floating triangular ceiling clouds of drywall and wood-look metal tiles above.
The atrium is a spacious, 6,500-squarefoot area with 48-inch square white marble tile flooring, sizeable free-form marble collaboration tables and various other seating and table options.
At the south end of the first floor is a bright, light-filled fitness room with wraparound floor-to-ceiling glass on two walls. The third long wall is covered with a full-height photomural of a mountain lake.
Across the hall is the entry to the employee cafeteria, with multiple types of seating options. Employees can choose from a catering kitchen, a brown bag kitchen and a vending area. Deeply textured wallcovering, wood-look ceilings and Arktura contoured ceilings all add interest to the spacious dining area.
Along the east portion of the building are a dozen labs for testing, inspection and weighing.
The northern end of the first floor is primarily the two-story Pilot Lab, where engineers can test new ideas or improvements to existing processes.
An acoustically rated (STC52) partition separates the Pilot Lab from the reception and atrium areas, so noise from the Pilot Lab won’t be noticeable on the other side of the wall.
“I like to think of the Pilot Lab as a mini ABS building,” says Rosso, “where the engineers can test all their new product lines in this building before they produce them on a mass scale in the ABS building.”
While a good part of the first floor is dedicated to impressing and assisting customers, the second floor is where the day-to-day business gets done. More conference rooms and offices line the east wall overlooking the building entrance. The south area is reserved for open office low-wall cubicles, with fun hexagonal sound-absorbing 3D graphics on the north wall.
Another set of labs is on the second floor, directly over the first-floor labs along the east wall. Past the labs are rooms for IT, networking, electrical and storage.
“The contractors and our engineers spent a lot of time achieving the requirements of these two floors of labs and the Pilot Lab on the first floor,” mentions Chlebus. “With all the different types of piping, gases and connection points, they did a wonderful job coordinating it all.”

The third floor is almost entirely for employee amenities. There are three private phone rooms, a mother’s room, a small collaboration room, a large conference room and an unusually large breakroom. The breakroom features a full wall of glass, looking out above the roof, along with abundant suspended linear and pendant lighting. More floating triangular clouds of acoustic panels and wood slats are suspended in an efficient but chaotic layout above the multiple seating areas.
Two walls are done entirely in the LG red color, and two overstuffed sofas in matching red help define the perimeter of the space. Another large kitchen with builtin Parsons table occupies the far corner of the space, with plenty of countertop for serving.
The conference room will accommodate 26 people around a U-shaped conference table facing a large projection screen, which is flanked by two flat-screen monitors.
The ABS Compounding Plant
Hwang explains that the ABS Compounding Plant is composed of a raw material warehouse, a final goods warehouse, a manufacturing site and an ancillary equipment courtyard. Miscellaneous office areas for the employees are located on the main floor and on the mezzanine level.
“This project was unique for me,” recalls Hrubik, “and it was the first one where I did this much in-depth 3D modeling. Working with LG Chem and the sub-trades, we generated a 3D model of the building that included all of the equipment and synchronized with the process equipment model. We were then able to take that and put it into two-dimensional plans. The installers followed the plans really pretty faithfully, placing things where they showed and where they needed to go. And right away, you could tell when something wasn’t going to fit. It was a cool process. This is the first time I’ve gotten to do that at any kind of scale.”
As a final challenge to the project, the engineers early on determined that there was not sufficient power available on the site for future operations, as Rosso explains.
“All the construction was run off of the distribution power that First Energy was able to provide when we started the project,” says Rosso, “but we knew that wasn’t going to be 100% sustainable when we turned on everything. Geis and First Energy worked together to engineer a transmission line and substation for the site. Geis constructed the substation that LG Chem now owns. We then worked for two years on procuring and coordinating with First Energy to bring their transmission line from a couple of miles away and power the substation, which didn’t go live until about a month ago.”

A grand finale
“I recall being out here at the start of the project on May 16 and wondering how this was all going to come together,” says Rightnour, “but it went so smoothly. It was a million times better than I thought it would be.”
“Props to Chris, Mitch and Mark,” adds Rosso. “At our peak, we were up to 170 workers on-site at once. So, managing 170 workers and coordinating them in a way that everyone was productive and efficient, well, Mitch and Chris really did a great job managing that process.”
“I was involved in this project as a process designer,” concludes Hwang, “so we appreciate seeing the building and processes operational now without any problems. We installed one automated system that we have never used in any other facility, so we expect that this new change can drive LG Chem to achieve better efficiency and productivity.... This has been a great collaboration between a Korean company and a U.S. company for the first chemical project plant and R&D center in the States. With two projects managed simultaneously and concurrently, it was good luck for us to meet these brilliant and competent partners. On behalf of LG Chem, we’d like to express our great thanks to you guys.”
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