Nine months after standing on a patch of dirt alongside state and local officials to announce a $14 million, 176,000 square-foot expansion that essentially doubles the footprint of its Cullman operations, Royal Technologies President Jim Vander Kolk welcomed many of those same officials — this time indoors, on the factory floor of the newly-added space his company is now ready to occupy.

“I’ve made plenty of bad decisions over the years,” Vander Kolk joked in his brief remarks at Thursday’s ribbon cutting ceremony for the new space, “but bringing Royal Technologies to Cullman was not one of them.”

The advanced plastics engineering and manufacturing company, which serves the automotive and commercial furniture industries, has been looking to expand its workforce as it eyes the horizon for more diverse applications of its plastics fabrication and fitment technology.

The addition provides the company that room to grow, and serves as the flagship exemplar of its current approach to creating a safe, efficient, and collaborative workplace. The Hudsonville, Michigan-based company operates six facilities in Alabama, Michigan, and Texas.

As new production orders come online, the expansion is expected to create 25 additional jobs at the plant. Royal currently employs around 130 people at its Cullman facility.