The cooperation the town of Wiscasset showed was a key reason Molnlycke chose to expand its Twin Rivers Drive plant, a company official said.

Mark Dignum, site director for Molnlycke's Brunswick and Wiscasset plants, spoke under a sunny sky May 2 before he and others broke ground for the expansion. The 32,000 square-foot add-on, expected to cost at least $5.5 million, will add 10 to 30 employees to the global wound-care product-maker's local workforce of 70.

The company is committed to making Maine the center of its U.S. manufacturing, Dignum said. For Wiscasset and its economy, the expansion can only have a positive impact, he said.

“It felt like a long time coming, but it's great to be investing here. This is a good expansion,” Dignum said in an interview before the ceremony.

Also on hand Friday was Molnlycke's new landlord in Wiscasset, Dirk Thomas of North Yarmouth. He and business partner Richard Berman of Portland recently bought the property under the name 11 TwinRivers LLC.

Thomas said they wanted to make the purchase because Molnlycke's expansion of the Wiscasset facility is a good-quality project that will create good jobs. “That's exactly what Maine wants and what it needs,” he said.

Plans call for PC Construction of Portland, builder of Molnlycke’s new Brunswick plant, to turn the Wiscasset addition over to Molnlycke in January 2015, Molnlycke-Maine Research and Development Director Fred Libby said. He said he was excited about the project getting under way; Judy Colby, vice chairman of the Wiscasset selectmen, told him she was, too, and that the town was.

A tax incentive deal Wiscasset voters passed in January is aiding the expansion. The deal also helps the town pay off its debts for infrastructure work aimed at attracting industry; and it keeps the added property value from upping Wiscasset's tax base. A higher base would likely have raised the town's county tax and lowered its state funding, town officials have said.

The state approved the deal in February.