Arrow Machine launches $5.1 million expansion project

Arrow Machine Company Ltd. is undergoing a $5.1 million expansion project that will create 20 to 30 new jobs next year.

The Mentor company, which manufactures a wide range of screw machine products, assemblies and job shop services, will be moving into the former Beverage Heritage building, 7333 Corporate Boulevard, in the first half of 2012. Arrow Machine operates a plant at 8687 Tyler Boulevard and has 50 full-time employees.

In October, the company purchased Metal Seal Precision Ltd. of Willoughby that employs 85. Metal Seal’s operations and its employees will also work out of the 158,000-square-foot Corporate Boulevard building is  renovated, said Arrow Machine Treasurer Rick Sippola.

Arrow Machine secured the $5.1 million loan from the Ohio Department of Development, the economic development arm of the state of Ohio. The loan will allow the manufacturer to purchase the Corporate Boulevard plant, make improvements and purchase equipment.

“We’re looking to add 20 to 30 new jobs,” said Sippola. “The improvements that are going into this building total $1.7 million, which will include the purchasing of new equipment and the building’s renovations.”

Sippola said the company has already applied for a Mentor economic development incentive grant.

Arrow Machine was founded by John L. Habe II in Cleveland. The company moved to Mentor in the early 1980s.