Apex International announced last week that it is in the process of expanding both its facilities and its workforce to support recent growth.

The Chaska-based contract manufacturer of personal care and household products recently added about 40 manufacturing, technical, and office employees to its current 210-person workforce. The company also has acquired an additional manufacturing facility-a 115,000-square-foot building in Eden Prairie that used to be owned by Cima Labs, Inc.

According to Hennepin County property records, Apex paid about $5 million for the facility, which the company's workers will occupy beginning in January 2012.

Apex said last week that it has gained new customers and expanded its over-the-counter capabilities.

Much of the company's recent growth comes from The Bonne Bell Company, a Lakewood, Ohio-based company best known for its Lip Smackers brand of lip balms. As of August, most of Bonne Bell's manufacturing was awarded to Apex.

Apex said that it expects business to continue to grow over the next 18 months and plans to continue adding staff as sales increase.

Apex is a private company that began under its current ownership in 1999. In 2001, the company took occupancy at its current campus in Chaska.