Lake Forest, Ill.-based Packaging Corp. of America (PCA) is putting the finishing touches on a major expansion to its main Winter Haven, Fla., plant, reports The Ledger, Lakeland, Fla.

PCA started work on the $17 million expansion in May and has hired more than 40 new employees at the plant, growing its staff to about 200 people. New equipment includes a Fosber corrugator and a folder-gluer, says plant manager Larry Fairchild. PCA also invested in a new shipping department, including equipment used to bind boxes for transport.

Fairchild says the expansion was needed after a decade of solid growth. The roughly 300,000-sq-ft Winter Haven plant makes packaging for clients in the citrus and produce industries, as well as industrial customers.

“We’ve experienced in the last 10 years about 45 percent growth in terms of new customers and business with existing customers,” Fairchild says. “We basically just outgrew the space we have. The added capacity will enable us to expand into some customers we currently don’t have.”

“We’ve had minor, $3 million or $4 million expansions but nothing of this magnitude,” at the site, Fairchild says.

PCA opened the Winter Haven plant in 1967. In 2009, the company added to this operation with a new 200,000-sq-ft plant, which serves as a warehouse and makes packaging for produce.