Film and bag maker Imaflex Inc. will spend up to $15 million on an expansion of the company's North Carolina operations.

The company, through its Imaflex USA Inc. subsidiary, expects to add 37 jobs as a result of the project, according to Gov. Roy Cooper's office.

"We began our journey in Thomasville in 2006 with a multi-million-dollar investment, based on great optimism and strong growth plans," said CEO Joe Abbandonato of Imaflex Inc., the Montreal-based parent company. "We've seen a substantial scaling of the business since then, resulting in the need for additional space and equipment. This initiative accommodates our needs, thus ensuring our long-term growth and competitiveness.

Money spent in North Carolina will include a building expansion as well as the purchase of additional equipment. Improvements will include upgrading extrusion operations and increasing film manufacturing capacity. New construction of a 25,000-square-foot building will consolidate printing and distribution operations, the governor's office said.

The new jobs will include work in extrusion, converting, printing, maintenance and management and the payroll has the potential to expand by more than $1.4 million, the state said.

The company will receive a performance-based $75,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund that's tied to job creation and capital investment.

Along with the North Carolina plant, Imaflex operates two manufacturing sites in Montreal and Victoriaville, Quebec.

The Montreal site, like its U.S. counterpart, makes polyethylene film and bags as well as agricultural films. The Victoriaville site operates under two names, Canguard and Canslit.

Canguard makes recycled-based industrial bags including garbage bags, compostable bags, Gaylord container bags and bags on rolls. Canslit metalizes plastic film for food packaging and agricultural mulches.

Plastics is an important part of the North Carolina's economy, according to one state official.

"Our plastics and chemicals industry consists of more than 2,600 businesses," Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders said in a statement. "North Carolina offers the sixth largest manufacturing workforce in the nation for the plastics sector and a strategic plan that prioritizes further developing the talent pipeline to help them thrive."

Imaflex is No. 86 in the most recent Plastics News ranking of film and sheet makers in North America with annual sales of $64.6 million.

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