Flexicon will lease 50,280 square feet of additional space in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VI in Bethlehem Township. (archive photo)

The industrial manufacturer Flexicon is expanding operations in Lehigh Valley, having announced a new lease for additional space adjacent to its existing U.S. headquarters in Bethlehem Township.

Flexicon, a world leader in the design and manufacturing of bulk handling equipment, will lease 50,280 square-feet in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VI.

“Our business has been growing rapidly, so we were pleased to find space that was a great fit for our needs almost right next door,” said David Boger, Flexicon’s Executive Vice President.

The new facility at the 2500 Emrick Blvd. industrial park features eight loading docks, one drive-in door, and will serve as additional assembly and warehouse space for Flexicon, Boger said.

Flexicon received a waiver last month from the state of Pennsylvania to continue operating during the COVID-19 pandemic due to its role in the supply chain for life-sustaining businesses, according to Flexicon President David Gill.

Flexicon President David Gill (archive photo)

“We successfully demonstrated that numerous Flexicon U.S. customers operate in essential industries, and rely on our equipment and parts to continue manufacturing vital products,” Gill said.

Flexicon products range from individual equipment to automated systems that source bulk material from interior and exterior plant locations, transport it between process equipment and storage vessels, weigh it, blend it, feed it to packaging lines, extruders, molding machines and storage vessels, and load it into railcars and trailers.

Flexicon customers producing essential products during the coronavirus crisis operate in the food, spice, beverage, pharmaceutical, soap/cleanser, paper, plastics/rubber and chemical industries.

“We remain in close contact with our supply chain to ensure prompt delivery of components needed to complete orders, and with our logistics partners to deliver those orders on time,” Gill said.

This newly-announced expansion project marks the second major expansion for the company since it relocated manufacturing operations to Lehigh Valley in 2001.

Flexicon announced plans in 2013 for a 70,000 square-foot expansion to its existing 91,000 square-foot headquarters.

The company received a $2 million Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) loan and $4.5 million in tax-exempt financing for that earlier project, with help from the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC).

Flexicon is safeguarding the health of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic through facility sanitizing, limiting personal contact, and allowing employees who work primarily online to do so remotely, Gill said.

The newly-announced expansion is being developed by J.G. Petrucci Co., Inc., the same development and design/build construction firm that delivered Flexicon’s original headquarters and its earlier expansion project.

“We have been very satisfied with the work that J.G Petrucci has done with the design/build of our headquarters, so in addition to the space being very close, we also knew that we would be working within a high-quality building,” Boger said.

Flexicon will join fellow industry leader OraSure Technologies in the 120,000 square-foot Lehigh Valley Industrial Park VI facility, which was previously developed and owned by J.G. Petrucci Co.

Petrucci has delivered more than 650 design/build projects for local, regional, and national leaders in a variety of industries. In addition, the firm owns and operates over 4.5 million square feet of commercial, industrial, and retail properties, 2,000 luxury apartment homes, and has extensive land holdings in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.