Workers at Alliance Laundry Systems test finished washers in 2014 before they are boxed up and shipped out. The company plans to break ground in June on a $62.6 million expansion that would ultimately add 200 jobs at its Ripon campus. Credit: Doug Raflik / Action Reporter Media

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With incentives from state and local stakeholders, Alliance Laundry Systems plans a $62.6 million expansion to its Ripon campus, ultimately adding 200 jobs.

The expansion marks Alliance's largest in Ripon.

The company plans to break ground in June and, as the project nears completion in 2018, begin much of the hiring for newly created jobs, said Todd Kaull, plant manager at Alliance. The company is hiring now for current open positions.

"Alliance Laundry Systems has been headquartered here in Ripon for more than a hundred years," said Mike Schoeb, Alliance president and CEO. "During that time we have developed a tremendous partnership with both Fond du Lac County and the state of Wisconsin. Those partnerships have allowed us to continue to invest in growing our business and keeping our workforce in Wisconsin."

The expansion would not be possible without an incentive package from local stakeholders, Kaull said in April.

The agreement — between the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corp. (FCEDC), Fond du Lac County and Alliance — would amend a prior $6 million loan to the company and commit up to $1.5 million if Alliance creates 202 jobs through 2021. FCEDC would audit the company each year to keep track of how many workers the company hired. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and the City of Ripon also have provided support for the project.

Alliance Laundry began a $46 million expansion with a $6 million low-interest loan from Fond du Lac County and FCEDC in 2013. That followed the company's $25 million expansion in 2012, adding 270 jobs. Alliance now employs more than 1,700 in Ripon.

From its 2013 project, Alliance promised to add 150 jobs as part of a $46 million upgrade to its manufacturing space in Ripon, with local incentives funded through sales taxes. As of last year, the company added 196 jobs, according to Fond du Lac County Executive Allen Buechel.

A new company board of directors approved the expansion. BDT Capital Partners, a Chicago firm founded by former Goldman Sachs banker Byron Trott, bought a controlling stake in the company last summer. Alliance in 2014 posted a 37% hike in gross profits to $230.2 million from a year before, with $726.3 million in revenue.

The newest project would add jobs in all aspects of the company's manufacturing operation, according to a news release Wednesday.