OGDENSBURG – A Canadian manufacturer is bringing jobs to Ogdensburg.

Artik/OEM, a manufacturer of components used for City Bus, Coach Bus and Passenger Railcar is expanding their U.S. operations, now opening here in the Ogdensburg Bridge & Port Authority’s light-industrial Commerce Park, the authority has announced.

The company, based in Ajax, Ontario, with facilities in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Osage, Iowa, recently signed an agreement with the authority to lease 20,000 square-feet of space on a five-year term.

The company has nine employees and anticipates hiring another 10 by the end of 2019 as their production ramps up. The facility will be able to accommodate as many as 50 employees.

“We are very pleased to welcome Artik/OEM to Ogdensburg,” Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority Executive Director Wade A. Davis said. “They are an excellent, well-established company and we are grateful for the employment opportunities they will create in the North Country.”

Artik/OEM will be supplying component parts to transportation companies like New Flyer, Nova Bus and Bombardier in Plattsburg. There is a high demand for New York content from transit builders, and Artik/OEM had been looking for some time for the right location in New York State.

“Ogdensburg, NY was the perfect location for our new U.S. location,” Bill Clark, Artik/OEM vice president of operations, said.

“We think Ogdensburg and the surrounding rural communities will provide us with the skill set of quality workers we need in our production process. That’s largely why we chose Ogdensburg for our new plant.”

The company was recruited to Ogdensburg by OBPA Director of Commercial and Industrial Development John A. Rishe.

“We are grateful for their investment in Ogdensburg, and are hopeful they will become a major employer as they add more people,” Rishe said.

The authority’s Commerce Park is home to a variety of U.S. and Canadian-based companies, including Med-Eng, a manufacturer of bomb suits for the U.S. military; Acco Brands, a manufacturer of office products; and T-Base Communications, a printing company that prints braille and large-format documents. The industrial park is presently 90% occupied, according to the authority.