CANTON – AmbaFlex Manufacturing Inc., a global company headquartered in the Netherlands, is expanding its footprint in Canton with a new facility. 

Company representatives and local officials broke ground for an approximately 50,000-square-foot building on Wednesday at 1530 Raff Road SW. 

"It's going to support our existing 100,000-square-foot facility that we have directly to the south," said David Spencer, vice president at AmbaFlex.

The plant primarily manufactures spiral conveyors that move products up or down — SpiralVeyor — in e-commerce warehouses or canning and bottling, dry goods packaging, and print finishing facilities. It also produces the AcuuVeyor, a conveyor system to accumulate products, and the AmbaVeyor, a more horizontal conveyor system.

Ray Hexamer, president of the Stark Development Board, said such companies that manufacture products for wider distribution help grow the local economy. The expansion is expected to cost $10.5 million in total, with $8.5 million for the building and $2 million for equipment.

"This company's just been amazing with their growth," Hexamer said.

AmbaFlex first opened in 2010 on 16th Street SW in Canton with three employees. Spencer said operations moved to Raff Road in 2013 and have grown rapidly since.

"Our largest industry is logistics," he said. "So, when e-commerce grows, our business is growing."

AmbaFlex has more than doubled its staff in the past year and now employs more than 160 people at the Canton site. Spencer said the company will add 35 employees within the next five years as part of the expansion and an agreement with JobsOhio.

The state's economic development arm is providing a $100,000 grant for the project, which will create jobs that amount to $1.75 million in new payroll, said JobsOhio spokesman Matt Englehart. 

Spencer said the new building, which will be constructed between April and late May next year, will manufacture the AmbaVeyor and store parts or finished components of the spiral conveyors.