MANHEIM, Pa. — Carel has inaugurated the expansion of its Manheim, Pennsylvania, production plant. The project will add 40,000 square feet to the manufacturer’s North American headquarters and help increase Carel’s presence in the U.S., Canadian, and Mexican markets.

The factory was founded in Manheim in 2001 and joins the Mexico City office and five American sales offices in Atlanta; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Los Angeles; and Monterrey, Mexico, which employ a total of around 55 people.

Officials believe the doubling of the Carel’s production plant and headquarters in North America will bring significant improvements in the service level provided to the market and in procurement lead times, increasing the number of employees at Manheim to around 70, the majority of whom are involved in operations, logistics, HR, finance, quality, research and development, marketing, supply chain, and customer care.

There will also continue to be a strong commitment to training: in addition to offering remote installation and monitoring services, Carel USA organizes SW and SW application development training courses in the air conditioning and refrigeration markets.

Present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Aliyah Stanger, southeast regional director at the Department of Community and Economic Development; Aaron Schwartz, president of the Manheim Chamber of Commerce; and Ryan Aumentar and Mindy Fee, respectively Senator and Representative for Pennsylvania’s 36th and 37th districts.

In addition to the speeches by local authorities, the audience of 115 Carel USA employees and a select group of suppliers and customers were also addressed by Martino Manfrin, CEO, Carel USA, and Pietro Rossato, COO, Carel Group.

“We are extremely happy, and at the same time proud, to be able to inaugurate the expansion of our North America headquarters today,” said Rossato. “This investment is in line with what we have defined as the pillars of our industrial development: the proximity of factories to the market with obvious benefits in terms of service, reduction in working capital, and optimization of the supply chain, business continuity through technological mirroring and process replication between different plants, and digitalization.

“With the extra space available at the new plant, we will be able to expand the range of ‘made in USA’ products; for example, the entire range of programmable controllers, one of the flagships of our offering, will also be fully manufactured in the United States,” Rossato continued. “The expansion of the Manheim site represents an important step in our international development plans and was announced with the stock exchange listing last year, supporting our business growth in North America.”

As of Dec. 31, 2018, the North American area accounted for 13% of Carel’s revenues. For more information, visit www.carel.com.