MILTON, Fla. -- More jobs are coming to Santa Rosa County, as a cable manufacturing company in Milton has announced plans to expand.
The company, Gulf Cable, manufacturers cables for the energy market. This month it obtained a 30-acre lot in the Santa Rosa Industrial Park. Custom Wire Harnesses
The company -- which says it already has several projects underway -- says the expansion is expected to increase production and create a minimum of 200 jobs in the county.
"This is our largest manufacturing campus," said Kevin Bate, WTEC Energy Innovative executive vice president. "It will continue to be our largest manufacturing campus."
Gulf Cable's products are sold all over the country.
"In short we're currently almost 800,000 square feet under roof," Bate said. "In the next three years, we'll be approximately 1.2 million square feet under roof. We're currently at 400 employees and we will be somewhere between 600 and 800 here in about three years time."
Shannon Ogletree is the executive director for the Santa Rosa Economic Development Office.
He says having a company with 600-800 employees would allow for money to be spent elsewhere in the community.
"That means when their products are sold to companies in Texas or Oklahoma or Nebraska, that money that those companies are purchasing this product from, that money is flowing back to Santa Rosa County," Ogletree said.
Ogletree says when Gulf Cable first came to Northwest Florida, it was a small company in Escambia County.
The company quickly outgrew its initial facility and needed room to expand.
Ogletree says the Milton manufacturing facility could have been built anywhere else in the country, as Gulf Cable's parent company has several other locations.
He says with this expansion comes potential opportunities for the county in the future.
"Success breeds success," he said. "It will because just going back to Gulf Cable, they've actually put me in touch with other suppliers that would be advantageous to be close by them. So chatting with some of their suppliers who say, 'Hey we want to be close by Gulf Cable' because its becoming such a large manufacturing facility for them."
Pcb Process Gulf Cable plans to open its new facility in the Santa Rosa Industrial Park in the next couple of months.