BELFAST — OnProcess Technology, which offers services to a variety of technology and medical clients, said May 18 that it plans to expand its company to Belfast just off of Route 1. The Ashland, Massachusetts-based company said in a news release that it has the capacity “for an additional 350 employees in its Belfast service delivery center.” It will first start with hopefully hiring up to 50 employees.

OnProcess, doubled its global workforce in 2014 to more than 2,200 people, the company said. It has signed a five-year lease with the Boston-based Stag IV Belfast, LLC, which owns 318,979 square feet of the former MBNA campus. According to its 2013 annual report, STAG Industrial, Inc. (NYSE: STAG) “is a Boston based real estate company focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of single-tenant industrial properties throughout the United States. We are Hunters. We are STAG.”

The publicly-traded AthenaHealth, which provides computer services for processing health records, owns part of the campus, as well.

 “We are very excited,” said Thomas Kittredge, economic development director, who first started talking with OnProcess last October. “We had a role in helping bring them here. I think its great to add at least another 50 jobs.”

 The company, founded in 1998, concentrates on analytics, optimizing company and product efficiencies, and generally helping businesses success. OnProcess provides services in 26 languages and operates in eight global facilities, including its Massachusetts headquarters and facilities in Maine, India and Bulgaria, the company said.

According to the company’s “about us” section at its website:  “From our early days focusing on reverse logistics and asset recovery challenges, OnProcess has been an innovator and pioneer in the development of comprehensive service supply chain optimization programs for companies with post-sales service operations. Using deep subject matter expertise, advanced methods and technologies, we give our clients the information, resources and cost-efficiencies they could never before achieve — helping them to transform their business operations. Unlike point solutions which address symptoms or component problems, our comprehensive approach, combining people, process and technology, enables us to fully diagnose, address and solve our clients’ service supply chain challenges.”

Maine and Company’s Peter DelGreco described the business as managing the customer’s experience (consumer or significant business) to make sure the manufacturer’s product is being used, and being serviced and maintained, as it was intended.

“They have built a platform to make sure their customer’s experience — whether that is customer is a consumer, hospital or large business — is as the manfactur intended,” he said. “It’s a niche business.”

Belfast hopes to see another $21,650 in tax-generated revenue from the new business.

OnProcess plans to invest approximately$2.2 million into locating in Belfast. Of that $1.1 million will derive from its own revenues, and will be helped by an $800,000 state of Maine  Community Development Block Grant (Economic Development Program (EDP) grant). The city of Belfast helped write that grant with OnProcess, originally applying for $1,1 million but receiving $800,000.

The grant is to be used by OnProcess to purchase computer, telephone, and other equipment, provide working capital, and to fund job training activities.

“These activities are the primary components necessary for the establishment of a new operations center in Belfast,” the application said.

The application said that OnProcess needed to accommodate its rapid growth in areas where “there exists both 1) a high quality, well-designed, and cost-effective infrastructure for their business activities; and 2) a new, reliable, affordable workforce possessing a strong work ethic.”

The company found such a spot in Belfast in the former MBNA call center. 

 In Belfast, OnProcess is to hire its first 50 full- and part-time employees during the next two months in positions ranging from entry-level agents to managerial roles. Job seekers are invited to attend the OnProcess Job Fair May 20 and May 21 at The Hutchinson Center, which is part of the University of Maine, 80 Belmont Ave., in Belfast.

The fit is good, according to application, because Belfast: “desperately needs quality, stable jobs with benefits, particularly for persons of low/moderate income. While only 32 percent of Belfast's residents are considered low/moderate income, Belfast is also a significant net job importer. In 2011 (the most recent year for which data was available), 4,894 people worked in Belfast but lived outside of that community, compared to only 1,162 people who lived in Belfast but worked outside of that community. It is likely that many of these new jobs created would be taken by persons who live in the communities surrounding Belfast, communities which typically possess higher percentages of persons of low/moderate income (for the top 9 non-Belfast communities whose residents work in Belfast, their average percentage is 46.6 percent).

OnProcess Technology is a managed services provider specializing in complex, global service supply chain operations, which, according to the release, is “the flow of people, parts and services following the sale of a product.”

The company, founded in 1998, concentrates on analytics, optimizing company and product efficiencies, and generally helping businesses success. OnProcess provides services in 26 languages and operates in eight global facilities, including its Massachusetts headquarters and facilities in Maine, India and Bulgaria, the company said.

“Our managed services business has been growing steadily, thanks to the volume of companies turning to OnProcess to improve their post-sales customer experiences and reduce costs,” said Ed Barry, CEO of OnProcess Technology, in the release. “As a Massachusetts-based company, we wanted to expand in New England, and Belfast was the ideal location. Not only were we attracted by Belfast’s vibrant business community and highly skilled workforce, its proximity to major universities, several of which have supply chain curricula, also make the area great for recruiting employees. With the help of Maine & Company, the support of the Maine government, and the great local cooperation and support from the City of Belfast, we were able to secure a facility that meets all our capacity, commutability and environment needs.”

"I'm thrilled to welcome OnProcess Technology to our Great State of Maine," said Congressman Bruce Poliquin, in a news release issued following the announcement. "They have made an excellent decision in expanding their business in Maine and hiring Mainers as we are the hardest working people in the country. OnProcess Technology's expansion will have a profound impact on the Belfast community and it is great to see that Maine is open for business."

To learn more about OnProcess or the job fair, and to see job listings and benefits information, visit www.onprocess.com/careers.

Contact Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657