During a time when businesses and industries are announcing layoffs and closures, AccuTrex Precision Parts Division on Sunshine Road is expanding.

County Council approved a resolution this month to authorize issuing $3 million in industrial revenue bonds for the industry to expand.

AccuTrex does contract work in metal stamping, machining, precision metal fabrication, silk screening and powder coating to specifications for electrical, industrial and commercial companies mainly across the Southeast, said Sam Bruckner, division president. No consumer products are made at the plant.

The local company, a subsidiary of AccuTrex Products in Canonsburg, Penn., bought Continental Manufacturing on U.S. 521 in 1988. Its name was changed to AccuTrex about a year later, Bruckner said.

In 1995, the company moved to a 32,000-square-foot building at 1968 Sunshine Road and added another 18,000 square feet in 1997.

Now, once again, employees find their building bursting at the seams.

"Space is getting tight here," Bruckner said. "It's crowded."

With the industrial revenue bonds, which are issued through the Jobs Economic Development Authority (JEDA) through the state Department of Commerce, AccuTrex plans to acquire the now-vacant Velcro building on Pageland Highway. Velcro closed last year.

AccuTrex's stamping and machining departments will be moved from Sunshine Road to the Pageland Highway building, which may lead to the addition of about 10 employees.

"It could be three, it could be 100," Bruckner said. "With a 'job shop,' it all depends on the economy."

Acquiring the Velcro building will add another 50,000 square feet of space to the company.

This will give the 60 or so employees more space to make products that include the frames and buckets for paint-mixing machines for The Home Depot, chair backs produced with the help of a robotic welding arm and electronic components no larger than the tip of a finger.

Bruckner said Lancaster County Economic Development Corp. President Keith Tunnell and County Council have helped to accomplish AccuTrex's expansion.

Because there are few ways South Carolina can help industries stay local and expand, AccuTrex considered moving to Pennsylvania, which offers low-interest loans to companies looking to expand.

"It was tempting to move everything back to Pennsylvania," Bruckner said. "That was a thought, but we overcame it."

Tunnell said when a business wants to expand, but isn't creating new jobs, there are no state incentives to offer. The county couldn't do much for AccuTrex, because both the Sunshine Road location and the Velcro building are already on the tax books.

The company has been leasing the Sunshine Road building, and will now be able to buy both buildings with the bonds from JEDA.

Duke Power helped the company get proper electricity flow to the Velcro building, Tunnell said.

"Unless they're building something new, our hands are tied," Tunnell said. "We were limited in what we could do, but we're glad they're keeping those jobs in the county."

During LCEDC's recent annual meeting, Tunnell said LCEDC must look for ways to provide incentives for established businesses and industries to expand and stay in Lancaster County.

The Department of Commerce had an existing industry program that helped businesses with needs and expansions, but the program fell victim to state budget cuts in 2003, Tunnell said.

"We're asking that that be put back in place and staffed," he said.