A line of new Thermoform machines are part of the 0 million first phase of ongoing upgrades at PackerWare, 2330 Packer Road.

PackerWare is well on its way toward making a $118 million expansion and equipment-upgrade program pay off.

Steve Brown, plant manager for the division of Berry Plastics Group, 2330 Packer Road, said that sales and production were up more than 30 percent from a year earlier, thanks to renovations and new equipment that enable employees to use a new process to make thinner, more flexible and less resource-hungry products.

“It’s great,” Brown said Thursday. “Berry wants to grow, and we want to meet the needs.”

PackerWare recently completed the first phase of the upgrades, spending about $40 million on new equipment and building updates. About half of a former 100,000-square-foot warehouse now accommodates new Thermoform machinery, allowing the company to make cups and other plastic products by using about half of the resin pellets that would be required for injection-mold production.

It is that machinery that has allowed the company to add business – securing contracts from major food-service companies and others – that hadn’t been available a year ago.

PackerWare also is adding workers, often by replacing temporary jobs with full-timers, Brown said. The payroll is approaching 500 employees.

When the company announced its plans for upgrades – a five-year project granted a 90-percent tax abatement for 10 years by Lawrence city commissioners – PackerWare said it would create 78 new jobs within three years, followed by another 76 during the next two. At the time, PackerWare had about 450 employees.

PackerWare makes drinking cups, kitchenware, garden tools and other plastic items, and has been in Lawrence since 1968. Since being acquired by Berry Plastics Corp. in 1997, Brown said, the Lawrence plant has tripled both its production and revenues.