Craig Wells, with Butler Technologies on West Wayne Street, prepares a screen printing press on Sept. 19. The business has received a $500,000 grant, which it will match, to double its manufacturing space in Butler and hire additional employees. The September open house showed officials the facility and why the funding was needed. Cary Shaffer/Butler Eagle

Butler Technologies is looking to more than double its manufacturing space in Butler and hire additional employees using a state grant.

The business received a $500,000 grant from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program and will use bank financing for the required match, said Tristan Tripodi, company president.

“Our goal is to expand our manufacturing capabilities,” said Tripodi, whose mother Nadine Tripodi founded the business 32 years ago with the late Bill Darney.

Butler Technologies is now using 10,000 square feet of its 14,000-square-foot facility on West Wayne Street for manufacturing. The expansion to adjacent property owned by the company will be a new building containing 18,000 square feet of manufacturing space, Tripodi said.

Work on the building is expected to begin next year and be completed in 2024, but a definite timeline has not been set. The grant money has to be spent in two years, he added.

The expanded manufacturing capability will mean expanding the company workforce, which is about 80 now, he said.

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