Lubrication Technologies Inc. will invest $16 million to renovate a 226,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Shreveport, Louisiana, with plans to create 75 jobs in the region.

Also known as Lube-Tech, the firm will manufacture lubricants and related fluids for power sports, marine and outdoor power equipment markets. The Shreveport site represents Lube-Tech’s first major investment in the South, enabling the company to better serve key domestic customers in the South and to be in close proximity to its supply sources.

For the Louisiana project, Lubrication Technologies will begin construction in the first quarter of 2014, with hiring beginning shortly thereafter, leading to 35 new jobs created by mid-2015. The additional 40 positions will be filled by 2016.

“Lube-Tech is excited to expand our Custom Brands business serving Power Sports, Marine and Outdoor Power Equipment OEMs to the Southern United States,” CEO Chris Bame said. “Our new Shreveport facility will manufacture, package and distribute specialty lubricants globally. We expect to employ 75 people by the end of 2016. We were pleased with Louisiana Economic Development’s help in finding a location, providing relocation funding, and assisting with employee recruitment and training. LED representatives proactively identified solutions to challenges in an entrepreneurial spirit that reflects our company culture.”

Gov. Bobby Jindal said, “This new venture undertaken by Lubrication Technologies is a great win for our state and will create great new career opportunities for hundreds of families in Northwest Louisiana. We’re proud that Louisiana’s rapidly improving business climate and best-in-the-nation workforce programs attracted this significant manufacturing project in competition with other states in the South.”

To secure the project, the State of Louisiana offered the company a performance-based Economic Development Loan Program incentive of $750,000 and the comprehensive workforce solutions of LED FastStart, the state’s workforce development program. In addition, the company is expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.

“North Louisiana Economic Partnership worked with state and local partners to recruit Lubrication Technologies to fill an existing building which was shuttered after a GM supplier left the area,” NLEP President Scott Martinez said. “The 280 new direct and indirect jobs created by Lubrication Technologies will have a significant impact on the Shreveport-Bossier economy.”