A North Lawrence manufacturing plant that was spared closure in October is adding 10 high-paying jobs and $5 million in new equipment.

Officials with Astaris, 440 N. Ninth St., announced Friday that they’ve begun an expansion project that will add a new product and new jobs to the phosphate production facility that formerly operated under the name FMC.

“It is an important project for us because it will take the plant from about 60 percent capacity to 100 percent capacity,” said Karen Schuyler, plant manager.

Hiring for the expansion has begun and is expected to be completed by early February. Schuyler said the 10 new jobs would include plant operators, maintenance workers, laboratory technicians and engineers. She said the average wage would be approximately $20 an hour.

“They’re good jobs with good wages,” Schuyler said.

After the expansion, the plant will employ 165 people.

The plant, which has been in Lawrence since 1951, produces a variety of phosphate products for use in primarily food and cleaning products. With the expansion, the facility also will be producing a phosphate used in the commercial baking industry.

Phosphates are used in hundreds of products; among their uses is as a flavor enhancer in colas and an abrasive in toothpastes.

Plans for the expansion began after company officials in October announced they were closing four Astaris plants in Idaho, Wyoming, Michigan and Illinois. The company left open the Lawrence plant, along with plants in St. Louis and New Jersey, to handle work previously done at the other facilities.

Stanley Hayden studies monitors in the phosphoric acid control room at Astaris, 440 N. Ninth St. Astaris is expanding its North Lawrence plant's operations with million in equipment and 10 new jobs.

Schuyler said the Lawrence plant survived because of its ability to produce a variety of products, lower operating costs and well-respected work force.

John Conard Jr., technical services manager at the plant, said employees were breathing easier now that the expansion project was under way.

“We felt very good about it but at the same time sad for our colleagues at the other plants,” Conard said. “But everybody was excited about the future of the Lawrence plant.”

Schuyler said the company was forced to close the other plants to stay competitive.

“It really was required for us to compete globally,” Schuyler said. “We have a lot of competition, especially from China.”

Schuyler said the U.S. phosphate industry was in a similar position as the U.S. fertilizer industry: Both have struggled to compete with foreign countries that have lower natural gas costs. Natural gas is a major raw material used in producing both phosphates and nitrogen fertilizers like the kind formerly produced at the now-closed Farmland Industries plant east of Lawrence.

“The competition overseas has caused us some price pressures,” Schuyler said. “So all the employees were excited to see this project happen because they know it has been a challenging couple of years.”

St. Louis-based Astaris is jointly owned by FMC Corp. and Solutia Inc., a pair of chemical product manufacturers. Solutia in mid-December filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after claiming it had been left with several environmental lawsuits and employee benefit problems by Monsanto Co., Solutia’s former parent company.