EAST PROVIDENCE – American Printing is gearing up to nearly double its work force, adding 50 manufacturing jobs over the next 18 months.

“We have just purchased another building, at 181 Narragansett Park Drive, which is literally just 1,000 feet down the street,” President and CEO Paul Carroll told Providence Business News in a telephone interview today. “It’ll increase our manufacturing space by another 150 percent.”

American Printing began moving in to the 25,000-square-foot space on Jan. 23, and the sale is expected to close on Monday, he said. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The company will keep its current headquarters, at 260 Narragansett Park Drive, which it purchased four years ago. Financing for both acquisitions was through Sovereign Bank, Carroll said.

“With this added space we will be able to continue to serve our Fortune 100 companies that we serve nationally,” hesaid. “It is the acquisition of this needed added space that will allow us to continue to grow and add additional staff to our team.”

American Printing – a division of Branch Graphics Inc. – is a provider of fulfillment, kitting, digital and conventional printing services to the retail and marketing industries. “We have more than 100 retail accounts,” some of which are household names, Carroll told PBN. “Our direct marketing business and e-store has been a huge hit with our major customers,” he added.

“The reason for the expansion, quite candidly, is we’re doing a lot of things right. We have doubled our work force in two years – right now, we’re up to about 65 employees – and I expect we’ll probably double again in the next two to three years. ...

“We’ve done it with the help of the SBA. They’ve been really wonderful to deal with ... and they like the fact that, as an operating business, we have very little debt,” Carroll said.

American Printing of East Providence is a national printing firm specializing in retail support marketing services. To learn more, visit www.AmPrintRI.com.