A Mason company recently celebrated the grand opening of its $10 million, 122,000-square-foot expansion.

With a combined area of 262,000 square feet, Intelligrated’s headquarters at 7901 Innovation Way will accommodate an ongoing increase in engineering, research and development staffing.

The company, a leading North American-based provider of automated material handling solutions and conveyor systems, broke ground on the expansion project last February and completed it late last year.

The expansion was made possible by a $15 million financial incentive package from the state of Ohio and the city of Mason to support local job growth. That expansion package includes a combination of Intelligrated’s existing job creation tax credit, state and local government loans, property tax abatement and a grant from the state.

Chris Cole, Intelligrated’s CEO, said the facility’s expansion was designed with the idea that the company would add at least 300 engineers to the facility.

“We really, really hope that this continues our growth as a technology company in the area,” Cole said during a Jan. 9 celebration and tour of the expansion.

Intelligrated employs about 2,100 nationwide, including 310 at its Mason headquarters and 425 at two West Chester Twp. facilities, one a manufacturing plant and customer service operation and the other a spare parts fulfillment center.

During the expansion, Intelligrated added 275 employees companywide, 180 of them in Ohio — 125 for technical and professional jobs and 55 for shop and manufacturing jobs, Cole said.

Of those 180 Ohio employees hired, 90 went to the company’s Mason headquarters and 90 to two of its facilities in West Chester Twp., said Emily Smith, a company spokeswoman.

“We expect to add about 200 more people this year, many of them in Ohio but also around the country and around the world,” Cole said.

The three-story expansion includes executive offices, two large board rooms and about 20 conference rooms on the third floor.

“I can tell you, in my entire business life, you can never have enough conference rooms,” Cole said. “We overbuild them at the beginning and then use them as you grow and you need more space for something else but we have enough right now.”

The company’s concepting and estimating and system sales employees work on the new wing’s second floor and its human resources and information technology employees work on the ground floor.

Also on the second floor is a full-service bistro that gives employees a wide array of items, including pizza cooked in a Wood Stone oven, and a cafeteria that seats 200 inside and 40 outside, when weather permits.

The expanded facility should make it “very easy” to hire the very best talent in the industry, Cole said.

“Our goal was to build first class offices, not over the top — and I can tell you that we squeeze the dollar pretty hard when we’re building things — but we want customers and employees to come in and see the technology, see that this is a nice place to work,” he said.

Most of Intelligrated’s customers are in North America and include the largest food, beverage and consumer products goods companies, as well as the biggest retailers and dot-com companies, such as Walmart and Amazon.

Launched in 2001 by Cole and president and Chief Operating Officer Jim McCarthy, Intelligrated has operations in several states, Canada and Mexico. Ownership includes an affiliate of European private equity firm Permira, which acquired the company in June 2012 for $500 million.

Intelligrated saw growth of more than 20 percent in 2012, Smith said.

“We broke $600 million in new orders, which was up substantially,” Cole said.

Sherri Carbo, a local liaison to Gov. John Kasich’s office, said Intelligrated had other options for where it could expand but opted instead to do so in Mason, in the process helping countless families in the city, the county and the entire region.

“It’s companies like Intelligrated that are sending the message that Ohio is open for business again,” Carbo said

The expansion came about after the city of Mason purchased between 10 and 12 acres of vacant land about four years ago, investing in the land in case Intelligrated should one day need it, according to Eric Hansen, city manager.

“We had no specifics on what Intelligrated was doing but we trusted them, because we knew our business and we knew our relationship, that they they were poised for success,” Hansen said. “It wasn’t part of a calculated plan at the time but it’s typical of the Mason story: we look for some investments, we look for the opportunity to leverage those type of things because we want to invest in our businesses.

“The compliments all go to them. We’re just glad we got to be able to be a part of their success. They’re the ones who grew the company, we just made sure the way was cleared for them.”

Mason Mayor David Nichols, a former CEO of a publicly traded company located in Mason, said he remembers when Intelligrated weathered tough times before becoming a leader in its field.

“They’ve written the book on (innovation),” he said. “I think so much more of them than other companies because I watched them break ground, I watched them be lean and then I watched all this happen right here in Mason. It’s just phenomenal.”

Council member Victor Kidd said Intelligrated’s expansion is “a good example of everyone working together for good and everybody benefiting.”