That plastic bottle of dishwashing soap by your kitchen sink may have its origins with a local manufacturer — a manufacturer that’s eyeing a nearly $8 million expansion in the next few years.

The Eco-Groupe Inc. is the corporate umbrella for several companies — Encon, Broadway Co., EnKon, EnKon West, EnKon Southwest and Eclipse Closures. All stretch back to Bill Gaiser’s founding of toolmaker Broadway in the mid 1950s. In the mid-1970s, Gaiser was approached about making a PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) preform for bottle makers. Bottle producers use the preforms, which resemble small test tubes, to make strong, lightweight containers for such things as water, sports drinks, salad dressing and barbecue sauce.

The innovation “changed the world and the industry from glass (bottles) to plastic,” said Karin Gaiser, Bill Gaiser’s daughter and today the owner, president and chief executive of the Eco-Groupe.

Today, Eco-Groupe manufactures 3.5 billion preforms nationwide, including about 3 billion locally. Gaiser expects to produce 4.6 billion in 2013. The company also makes the machines that make the preforms.

Together with Broadway, the company has about 160 local employees and up to 250 nationally. Vandalia is the headquarters city, Gaiser said. “This is always the hub.”

To keep up with customer demand, the company needs redesigned space and equipment. The city of Vandalia recently applied to Montgomery County on the company’s behalf for a $300,000 ED/GE (Economic Development/Government Equity) grant to help fuel Eco-Groupe’s $7.9 million expansion. County commissioners will vote on the grant request next month.

Gaiser’s vision includes 63 new local jobs in the next three years, including 19 in the first year. The growth is necessary to keep up with increasing sales: $150 million in 2011 (up from $11 million in 1997), and a projected $200 million in 2013, Gaiser said.

Gaiser also intends to remake the company’s primary inventory storage facility on Stop Eight Road. She wants to place three large injection molding machines (and possibly a fourth) into the building. She also intends to remake part of that space into something she hopes will encourage employees to think anew about the company’s products and processes.

The company is also pursuing production of what it calls “eco-pods” — mobile manufacturing plants it makes for customers who don’t necessarily have the capital to invest in expensive freight or a new manufacturing facility.

The pods have already found homes with customers in Seattle, Dallas and Richmond, Va., Gaiser said. In the first quarter next year, one will be set up in Hawaii and, a year after that, in Kansas City.

Vandalia officials are excited about the project.

Greg Shackelford, assistant city manager and economic development director, said the job creation potential can’t be ignored, particularly at an average annual salary of $51,643.

“The jobs aren’t just minimum wage,” Shackelford said. “They’re in strong, upper-echelon manufacturing and engineering jobs that ED/GE (grant program) was designed for.”

Besides applying for ED/GE money, the city is trying get the state’s development arm, JobsOhio, involved as well. It’s not certain yet what role JobsOhio will play, but Shackelford thinks a jobs creation tax credit is a possibility.

Rob Anderson, Vandalia city manager, likes the idea of a familiar company — one whose track record is familiar to the city — growing naturally.

“We like to see existing companies grow, probably more so than bringing new companies to town,” Anderson said. “They’re a known entity. We’ve had a great relationship with them for years.”