IRON MOUNTAIN — Systems Control will expand its Iron Mountain manufacturing facility for a third time this decade, potentially adding 300 employees to bring total employment to nearly 1,000.
On the heels of adding 70,000 square feet in 2015 and 127,000 square feet in 2012, the company will begin construction this summer on an 89,000-square-foot addition. The latest expansion will bring the footprint of the company’s headquarters, manufacturing and engineering facility to 403,000 square feet.
The additional space will be devoted primarily to the manufacture of electrical substation equipment and energy storage enclosures.
As the company adds to its workforce, immediate needs include electrical engineers, manufacturing engineers, project managers, CAD designers, welders and fabricators.
“This expansion is necessary to meet the growing needs of our customers and markets,” said Al Bloniarz, executive vice president. “We have realized rapid growth over the last several years. When we broke ground on our last expansion, in 2015, we had 472 employees. Today, we have over 670.”
Continued growth in the company’s core business of electrical control panel and substation equipment enclosures requires expanded manufacturing, engineering and design capabilities, Bloniarz said.
Also, incremental opportunities for the company’s engineered solution in the grid scale energy storage market necessitates additional capacity, he said.
“To facilitate this growth, and continue to meet the standard of high quality and exceptional customer service that our customers have come to expect, we have decided to make a substantial investment in our Iron Mountain operation,” Bloniarz said. “In addition to the capital investment, we will continue to add employees to service this growth.”
Brad Lebouef, CEO, said the company could have expanded its manufacturing capabilities anywhere in the country.
“We prefer to leverage the strong work ethic and technical expertise resident in the Upper Peninsula,”he said. “Quality and innovation are hallmarks of our success. Our talented and dedicated employees have helped us earn the reputation as best-in-class designer and manufacturer of highly engineered control panels and electrical substation equipment enclosures in the energy transmission and distribution industry.”
Accompanying the investment in plant and equipment, Systems Control has embarked on a program to develop and grow the human resource side of its business.
The company said it plans to add 300 employees over the next three years to its Iron Mountain workforce.
Systems Control also operates engineering services offices in Houghton and the Milwaukee suburb of Pewaukee, Wis. The expansion at company headquarters will mean adding CAD designers, electrical engineers and engineering technicians in the Houghton and Pewaukee offices, as those sites provide customer services and support manufacturing initiatives at Iron Mountain.
Systems Control, a wholly owned subsidiary of Comvest Partners, Inc., has more than 56 years of expertise in the design and manufacture of engineered solutions for the reliable delivery of energy.
That includes production of electrical relay and control panels, substation equipment enclosures, energy storage enclosures, outdoor walk-in electrical system enclosures and engineering services for the electrical utility, oil and gas transmission industry.
The company at 3201 E. Industrial Drive on Iron Mountain’s north side announced in March it was being acquired by Comvest, a private investment firm based in Florida. David Brule Sr., former majority shareholder of Systems Control, remained on the board of directors while Lebouef and the rest of the management team stayed on after the acquisition.