Extruflex is known worldwide for utilizing the extrusion process, which is how it makes its flexible vinyl strips and sheets into a specific shape and size.
Extruflex, a European company that makes flexible vinyl strips and sheets for food production facilities and customers in industrial, manufacturing and construction industries, is adding 16 jobs and investing more than $1 million in equipment at its Pelham location.
The company currently employs 22 in Pelham with plans to grow to nearly 40 through the expansion, which landed it on the Birmingham Business Alliance’s New and Expanding Industry List from 2018.
The $1 million equipment investment will help create a new factory to be housed within Extruflex’s current facility. More employees and better equipment will allow the company to eventually grow its product line, said Shane Solomon, managing director of Extruflex North America.
“We are already exploring some of those opportunities to expand outside of the strips and sheets we sell now,” he said. “The vast majority of our products are hanging in a doorway somewhere, but a doorway is a limited, small area compared to the floor, the ceiling and everywhere else we’re not serving today. We can really multiply the size of the company in the future.”
Extruflex is known globally for making its flexible vinyl strips and sheets through a process called extrusion, which melts and forms vinyl materials into a specific shape and size. These vinyl strips and sheets are mainly used in doorways, but Solomon said he’d like to expand the company’s product line.
Solomon was living in Birmingham and working at another company in 2011 when he learned about Extruflex and its products. He was impressed by the company’s product quality and reputation, and, after discovering Extruflex had no North American operations despite its global success, helped bring the company’s North American operations to Pelham.
Mark Brown, vice president of business retention and expansion for the Birmingham Business Alliance, worked with Extruflex during its expansion.
“This is a great success story for our region where a global company, based in France, decides to enter the North America market, expand its operations by adding a manufacturing and production line and continues to grow and diversify its product offerings to its customers in the U.S.,” Brown said. “As it looks to expand its product line, Extruflex is just getting started tapping into its full potential.”