Fitesa Simponsville Inc. — a Simpsonville, S.C.-based designer and manufacturer of nonwoven fabrics for hygiene, medical, and industrial specialty applications — is investing $50 million to expand its Simpsonville facility and create at least 32 jobs.

The company will improve the infrastructure of its 190,000-square-foot plant and add equipment to increase production capacity for its spunmelt nonwoven hygiene fabrics. According to Fitesa, the fabrics offer softness, strength, barrier, abrasion resistance, extensibility and sustainability; and are widely used in consumer goods such as baby diapers and adult incontinence products.

"Our mission is to be the preferred choice for the supply of nonwoven fabrics to the global hygiene industry, and to deliver high quality products with exceptional service and sustainable processes," said Ray Dunleavy, director of marketing, Fitesa. "We are pleased to continue to grow our operations here in Greenville County, and appreciate the support of the Greenville Area Development Corporation and South Carolina Department of Commerce in making this announcement a reality."

Fitesa began its Simpsonville operations in 1990 and currently employs 100 people at that location. Dunleavy noted that Fitesa already has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to date in its Simpsonville plant, and that it competed with Fitesa's other U.S. plants — located in Washington and Wisconsin — for the $50 million investment.Fitesa also has production facilities in Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Sweden, Germany, Italy and China.