BALLYMONEY based McAuley Engineering group is to create 87 new jobs in a £5 million expansion.
The jobs will be at its McAuley Precision and McAuley Fabrication firms which work mainly in the aerospace and transport sectors.
The expansion has been supported by £620,000 from Invest Northern Ireland.
The "advanced manufacturing" jobs will be in place by 2019 and will pay just over £24,000 on average.
McAuley Precision carries out machining and tubular work while McAuley Fabrication focuses on sheet metal fabrication work.
Mmanaging director Jonathan McAuley said the investment "signals a major milestone in our growth strategy and will help us to cement our reputation as credible suppliers in our target markets".
“The international aerospace and transportation sectors are particularly important growth areas for us and working with Invest NI we aim to scale up our workforce and manufacturing capabilities to secure work within these valuable supply chains," he said.
“Our investment activities in the coming months will involve upgrading our manufacturing area, investing in our IT systems and new machinery as well as implementing a robust business development and marketing strategy to target new customers.”
Of the positions, 57 will be created at McAuley Precision with the remainder at McAuley Fabrication.
Invest NI chief executive Alastair Hamilton said: "The significant investment in new technology, marketing and people marks a step change in the development of these businesses. Their growth plans are aimed at enhancing McAuley’s position to successfully target high value engineering sectors and in particular the rapidly growing global aerospace sector."
Leslie Orr, manager of trade body ADS Northern Ireland said the expansion "will make a valuable contribution to the growth ambitions of our local aerospace sector.”
