Bossard North America on Tuesday marked the opening of a $1.5-million expansion of its facility on Industrial Road into an operation that will be the Swiss company's second-largest hub in the U.S.

"We're very excited to be here," said Steen Hansen, president and CEO of Bossard, a company that provides some 25,000 different types of fasteners to industrial customers worldwide.

"We are here to stay and to grow. We won't let you down," Hansen told a crowd of local officials and dignitaries gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and barbecue.

Bossard has been in business in Greeneville since about 2002.

The celebration on Tuesday, however, marked the completion of an expansion project at the company's facility at 1550 Industrial Road.

The expansion turned a 48,000-square-foot building into a more modern 96,000-square-foot warehouse, said Jeff Monson, a member of GCS Partnership, which owns the building.

Bossard has approximately 1,600 employees worldwide, engaged in the global procurement and sale of every type of fastening element.

The company also provides engineering and logistical services associated with its fasteners.

Hansen, during remarks prior to the ribbon-cutting, said that the Greeneville warehouse will be the second-largest distribution hub in the U.S. for Bossard, with only the one in Dallas being larger.

The company's North American headquarters are in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with other satellite distribution centers in Columbus, Ohio, and Los Angeles, Hansen said.

From Bossard's location in Greeneville, Hansen said the company's strategic platform is ideally situated to service customers throughout the Southeast, down to Florida, and up the Northeast corridor.

"We have lots of business in this region of the country," Hansen told The Greeneville Sun.

He noted that Bossard is a major supplier for such companies in the region as John Deere Power Products, Briggs & Stratton, and Siemens.

"Our focus is on service and being on time -- being there for the customer," Hansen said.

Bossard has annual revenue of $500 million and operates in 75 locations worldwide, Hansen noted.

The company started 180 years ago in Switzerland, said Hansen, who himself is a native of Denmark.

"We buy from all over the world, and we sell all over the world," he said.

"We sell solutions, while also offering logistics along with research and development," Hansen added.

Bossard previously employed 10 people at the Industrial Road warehouse. The expansion will immediately take that number to 16, Hansen said.

More employees will be added when intermodal containers (those that can be transported via ship, rail and truck) begin coming through the expanded Greeneville facility, he said.

"We really appreciate you being here, for what you do to keep our folks working," said Greene County Mayor Alan Broyles in remarks prior to the ribbon-cutting.

"We wish you many successful years here."

Tom Ferguson, president and CEO of the Greene County Partnership, commented that, "It's just delightful how this building turned out."

As Bossard has grown over the years, the number and scope of its services have continued to expand.

Bossard now offers customers three major, distinct services:

* first, engineering and design, in which the company works with the client to find just the right part for the client's need;

* second, obtaining the product and delivering it to the client on a timely, reliable schedule;

* and third, managing logistics for the customer, even in the customer's own plant, either through regular in-person monitoring by Bossard of the customer's inventory needs, or automatically.

The company is an affiliate of Bossard Group, a global group of companies based in Zug, Switzerland, that traces its heritage to 1831.

The company was founded and owned by the Bossard family for many years.

Now, seven generations later, the family continues to be heavily involved in both the ownership and management of the company.

It is now publicly traded, and the stock of its holding company, Bossard, Holdings AG, is listed on the Swiss stock exchange.

The company is among the market leaders in its sector in each of the three global economic regions of Europe, America and the Asia-Pacific area, the company states on its website.

Bossard is online at http://www.bossard.com