Reliance Worldwide Corporation CEO Michael Williams speaks with city and county officials Monday at an expansion announcement.

Cullman’s role as a player in the pipe and plumbing industry is getting a very big boost.

Reliance Worldwide Corporation, owner of the successful valve manufacturer Cash Acme in Cullman, has announced a $50.8 million expansion that will create approximately 130 new jobs — which will almost double the company’s local workforce — and bring a high-end research and development operation to the area. The company will also be adding a 235,000-square-foot facility as part of the project.

The expansion was formally announced late Monday morning at Cullman city hall.

“We bought this business in 2002, and I told the staff there in 2003, ‘This is going to be a big company,’ and there were some Doubting Thomases there,” RWC CEO Michael Williams said. “If you say something, you have to do everything you can to live up to it and deliver. Alabama has lived up to its commitment and delivered, and we will, as well, as a proud Alabama company.”

Much of the new manufacturing will focus on the company’s innovative SharkBite plumbing connection system, which combines push-to-connect capabilities to replace the more complicated copper connection method.

The expansion will include a research and development center, as well as a training academy for industry professionals. The new Cullman facility will manufacture the company’s SharkBite line of push-to-connect plumbing systems, which had previously been produced exclusively at the company’s home base of Australia.

The new Cullman facility will be located in the former AAR/Summa Technologies building, which will be doubled in size to 150,000 square feet. Cash Acme’s current 145,000-square-foot distribution center that opened in 2011 will also be expanded to approximately 235,000 square feet.

The product development operations will include labs for product design, as well as prototyping capabilities including cutting-edge 3D equipment. Reliance Worldwide officials hope the Cullman facility can play a part in designing products that will drive the company forward in future years.

Expanded manufacturing operations will include multi-spindle, multi-turret CNC screw machines, capable of producing a part in less than three seconds. It also includes a “clean sheet” approach to plastic injection molding operations, with robot-loaded co-injection capabilities.

“We are proud to partner with the State of Alabama, Alabama Industrial Development Training (AIDT) and CEDA to invest a significant amount of capital to introduce new robotic and high technology plastic and brass manufacturing to our U.S. operations,” Williams said. “Producing these products in Alabama provides economic advantages for job creation, training and advanced education for employees and industry professionals.”

Though much of the company’s success is largely based on its innovative, proprietary technology, Williams said he also owes a debt of gratitude to the workforce in Alabama, as well as his native Australia.

“It’s critical you must have a strategic advantage, and for us that is capital investment and people,” he said.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, who was an hour late to the announcement due to a flight delay, noted the project is a great representation of his Accelerate Alabama initiative focusing on business expansion, retention and the addition of research and development.

“Thank you for being in Cullman. We’re honored to have you in Cullman,” he said. “I know as we continue to grow this company here, it’s going to do well because of the great company and business you have, but also because of the workers in this state.”

Dennis Richard and James Thomas, chairmen of the city and county industrial development boards respectively, also spoke and noted the local cooperation that went into making the project a reality.

“We see true cohesiveness between our two boards,” Thomas said. “When we’re working together, everyone ignores the city and county lines. Companies obviously do have a choice on where they locate, and we’re honored to have Reliance here.”

Cullman Mayor Max Townson and Cullman County Commission Chairman Kenneth Walker honored Williams with a key to the city and honorary status as a citizen of Cullman County.

This newest expansion is only the latest for Cash Acme, which opened with 70,000 square feet of space in the Cullman Industrial Park and has since expanded twice to span a total of 250,000 square feet. Cash Acme’s Cullman plant currently produces pressure relief valves, temperature release valves, and flow regulation valves. Each year, it produces enough PEX piping, used in the pipework systems of homes and businesses, to stretch across the width of Alabama 136 times.

The State of Alabama will provide the company with $1.1 million in discretionary incentives for the creation of 130 jobs, and officials say additional state incentives are possible if more jobs are created by the project. AIDT’s services are valued at $1.25 million. The City of Cullman has also approved a tax abatement for the expansion. It does not include local education taxes.