OgMentum ARK moves to Bowling Green, excited for new opportunities for growth

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A new business has arrived in Bowling Green and with it have come some incredible opportunities.

OgMentum Ark is locating its headquarters and research and development operations to Bowling Green and is spending about $475,000 on this project, as well as generating 24 high paying jobs.

OgMentum ARK specializes in fiber optic development and manufacturing advanced technologies. With this move, OgMentum ARK will be moving their fiber optic manufacturing now to Warren County. OgMentum Ark President Jake Weise says that they plan on playing a big but unique role when it comes to manufacturing in the state of Kentucky.

“We hope to to play a significant role in that, but a slightly different role. These are these are very high tech manufacturing jobs. It’s it’s it takes a skilled labor force. So we will be it’s relatively low volume but very, very high intensity products. So we would we expect to have a very high level, manufacturing group. So it would be a continuing education for our employees, for the manufacturing and the opportunity to grow in this industry. You can grow from being a an assembler to a technician to an engineer. And we would like to support that,” Weise said.

But with Kentucky becoming a manufacturing hub in the United States, why did OgMentum ARK choose Bowling Green over other manufacturing areas in the state of Kentucky?

“Bowling Green offers all the things we need to set up, establish and scale the technology that we want it to, that we want to scale. The relationship with WKU is critical for that. And they’re very much on board with that. The area is attractive to to retain talent as well as to recruit talent so it’s the ideal location,” Weise said of the Bowling Green community.

Western Kentucky University students will also be greatly benefiting from OgMentum ARK’s arrival here in Bowling Green. OgMentum ARK leaders recently met with WKU officials to discuss internship opportunities, opportunities they’ve offered in the past at different universities and have seen positive results.

“First of all, you get really enthusiastic, creative people. And you also get a chance to work with lots of different students and potentially pick some of the best, to continue on to build the organization. We did this before in Blacksburg, Virginia, near Virginia Tech, and we ended up hiring a couple of hundred students over the course of the years,” said OgMentum ARK’s CEO Kent Murphy.

Previously, OgMentum ARK ‘s fiber optic manufacturing took place over seas. Now their manufacturing, research and development and new product development will have a new home here in Warren County.