ALLENTOWN Silberline Manufacturing Co. Inc., a leading global manufacturer of aluminum pigments for the paint and coatings industry, announced it is opening its international customer service center and new corporate headquarters in the Lehigh Valley.

Silberline has entered into an initial lease for a 5,100-square-foot office in the Westfield Corporate Center on Tilghman Street in Allentown to serve as its international customer service center.The company plans to create 25 new jobs in the Lehigh Valley in the next two years. Some of these will be jobs that are transitioned from the current locations to the Lehigh Valley."We are very excited to bring our customer service center to the Lehigh Valley," said Lisa Jane Scheller, chairman of Silberline."Our hope is that we will be able to find and retain talented and skilled people needed to serve our customers around the world. Silberline needs to be able to deal directly with our customers around the world, which includes large global companies who are very sophisticated in their expectations and culture. Silberline needs to be able to provide world-class service to customers in their own languages and at times which are convenient to them."In addition to the creation of the international customer service center, Silberline is also looking to move its office to the Lehigh Valley location.Accounting and IT are among those departments that will make the move from the current Tamaqua location to the Lehigh Valley.According to Silberline CFO Gary Karnish, "many of our employees currently reside in the Lehigh Valley, and to be successful in the highly competitive global marketplace, we need to continue to recruit highly skilled individuals. The Lehigh Valley provides us this venue.""In order to be number one worldwide, we must deliver upon our customers' imperative for conducting business as they desire," Silberline CEO Peter Perley said. "We need our workforce teams to deliver these services to our customers and we hope to find this level of excellence here."The move to the Lehigh Valley comes without government subsidies, and the office is not located within any tax advantaged zone. It is expected that the move to the new office will take place by Oct. 1.In addition to the creation of the customer service center, Silberline is expanding its Hometown manufacturing capabilities to include the manufacture of pigments for waterborne systems and expanding its Tidewood operation to include the manufacture of solvent-free granulated pigments.Both of these types of products are being increasingly used in paints, coatings and inks worldwide as companies transition to more environmentally friendly solvents or even solvent-free applications.Silberline was founded in 1945 in Stamford, Connecticut, by Scheller's grandfather, Ernest Scheller Sr.The company currently has six production operations, including three in the United States, one in Scotland and two in China. Silberline also has locations in Mexico, Brazil and Singapore and employs over 600 people worldwide.Silberline is recognized as a leading global supplier to the paint and coatings industry, most notably to those companies that manufacture automotive paint worldwide.