ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL -- Longtime Chicago-area printed circuit board fabricator Imagineering plans to add electronics assembly capability this year, the company says.

The firm, which has offered PCB fabrication services since 1985, is renovating a building and plans to enter the low-volume, prototype-based EMS business.

Imagineering attempted EMS work a few years ago. However, this time the firm is building a new facility some three times larger than its existing space. A law firm representing the company applied in November for a permit to buy and renovate a 27,000 sq. ft. building in Elk Grove Village.

Imagineering plans would hire 20 to 30 new employees as it expands its service offerings.

"This is the next logical step based both on what we are seeing from customer demand as well as what we have observed as a real need for quickturn assembly in North America," said COO Khurrum Dhanji.