MANATEE -- Sun Hydraulics, one of the area’s largest manufacturers, has applied for all of the permits necessary to begin construction on a new Tallevast Road facility, the company announced Tuesday.
The $16 million expansion plan calls for 60,000 square feet of manufacturing and 16,000 square feet of office space to accommodate projected future growth.
The facility will become the company’s third near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, joining a plant at 701 Tallevast Road and another on University Parkway in Sarasota, which also serves as the company headquarters.
Sun Hydraulics now will begin all site preparations for the new plant, but no firm decision has been made on a build-out date.
“We’re doing all of the site work to prepare ourselves for when the timing is right to build,” company spokesman Richard Arter said. “We don’t have a timetable yet.”
Sun Hydraulics designs and manufactures high-performance hydraulic cartridge valves used to control force, speed and motion. The fluid power systems are most commonly found in construction, utilities and oil-drilling operations.
The company has hired Lakewood Ranch builder Halfacre Construction for the expansion. The permits will allow Sun Hydraulics to pour the concrete pad, Arter said.
An infrastructure utility building to serve both the existing and planned Tallevast Road facilities also was completed in November, replacing the 14-year-old system that simply couldn’t handle expansion.
“To ship increasing volume, we will rely on continued efficiency and productivity gains, but eventually will need to add capacity,” said Allen Carlson, Sun Hydraulics’ president and CEO. “The global macroeconomic indicators remain positive and we believe this is a good time to add infrastructure.”
Sun Hydraulics, which is publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange, has been growing at an average pace of about 20 percent annually since 1972.
That means the company has essentially doubled its size every five years, Arter said.
Sun Hydraulics reported $53 million in net third-quarter sales -- a 39 percent jump from the same time a year ago. That represented $20.7 million in gross earnings, according to financial statements filed with the Security Exchange Commission in November.
At the same time, the company projected fourth-quarter revenues to reach $44 million, a 5 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2010.
Sun Hydraulics now employs about 700 workers throughout the area, with other global employees at the company’s sales offices in England, Germany, China and India, among others. It’s unclear how many new jobs will come as a result of the expansion announced Tuesday.
Experts said Sun Hydraulic’s growth has been a common story in the industry of late, with manufacturing outperforming most other local sectors.
Because manufacturing also is one of the few industries that generates fresh wealth for a community -- instead of recycling it -- stakeholders said it will become a key component to the local recovery.
“A number of companies are expanding their physical size, capital equipment and number of employees,” said Jennifer Behrens-Schmidt, president of the Sarasota Manatee Manufacturers Association. “It’s great for the area.”
Josh Salman, Herald business writer, can be reached at 9410-745-7095.
