Swedish manufacturing firm Alfa Laval broke ground Thursday on an expansion of its Broken Arrow plant.
The company’s focus there is advanced welding technology for the oil and gas industry. Alfa Laval is expected to invest $15 million dollars for the first phase of the expansion. Broken Arrow Chamber President Wes Smithwick said that kind of direct foreign investment can start an economic chain reaction.
"When other companies in Sweden or Europe or even Asia, they see that, they know that we are working to grow business here and do it the right way," Smithwick said.
The project is also anticipated to bring 100 new jobs to Broken Arrow. If all goes well, a similar second phase could follow.
"Could be second steps in the range of $10 million to $20 million in investments, which also would give us another 100 to 150 jobs here in the area," Alfa Laval Global Operations Division President Mikael Tydén said.
Broken Arrow City Manager Michael Spurgeon says the city’s economic development model is paying off, and more cities should look into it.
"Where you have a public-private type partnership that works together to try to bring jobs to a community or to basically retain those jobs, and, in this case, we're getting expansion of an existing company, which is absolutely awesome," Spurgeon said.
Alfa Laval chose to expand the Broken Arrow facility as the company reduces its overall footprint. Its products are used in energy, food and marine applications.
