A custom die-cutting operation plans to begin manufacturing soon at its south Forsyth facility.

Electro Optic U.S., which is majority-owned by German company Electro Optic GmbH, held a ribbon cutting and reception Friday afternoon.

President and CEO Markus Marfurt said the company began by distributing German products in 2003 from a location in Fulton County.

"We moved to Forsyth County at the end of 2010," Marfurt said. "We moved here with the intent to start manufacturing."

That process will begin sometime in next month, he said.

Marfurt explained that Electro Optic makes custom, flexible die-cutting tools that are used by various clients to cut package labeling.

"Our tools cut out the labels for the product bottler," he said.

The company, which represents about a $5 million capital investment to Forsyth, has about 500 clients ranging from "small to big," Marfurt said.

Among them are the U.S. Postal Service, which uses the tools to cut stamps, as well as shampoo producers and food and beverage bottlers.

"About 60 percent of the postage stamps in the U.S. are done with our tools," he said.

The 17,000-square-foot facility on Shiloh Road was fitted for Electro Optic U.S.’s "environmentally-conscious" operations, Marfurt said.

Some of those aspects include chemical-resistant paints on the walls and a high-tech air purification system that contains and cleans fumes before they are released into the atmosphere.

"It costs a quarter of a million dollars alone to clean the air," Marfurt said.

Currently the company has about 15 employees. Marfurt said another 35 to 40 likely will be added over the next 18 months.

They will range from office support staff to "computer numeric-controlled" machine operators, which Marfurt said are high-paying positions.

"This is very high-tech equipment, so we have to have specialized people to operate it," he said.