Indiana manufacturer plans $5.5M expansion, 226 jobs

A company that designs and makes cutting and grinding products and custom tools is moving forward on an expansion that includes adding more jobs in northeastern Indiana.

Officials announced Thursday that Continental Diamond Tool Corp. plans to invest $5.5 million to add 15,000 square feet to its existing 112,000-square-foot manufacturing operations in New Haven (about 6 miles east of Fort Wayne) as well as its research and development labs. The expansion is expected to be completed by July. The company expects to create up to about 225 jobs over the next four years.

Continental Diamond Tool originally announced plans for an expansion in October but, at the time, job-creation estimates were slightly lower. The company currently has about 130 full-time employees.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Continental Diamond Tool up to $1.2 million in conditional tax credits based on its job-creation plans.

The company, founded in 1973, said it plans to hire programmers, computer operators, finishers, sales execs and customer service reps