Work is starting on a 54,000-square-foot, $3.3 million expansion at Advanced Input Systems' facility in Coeur d'Alene, according to building permit documents show.

Al Yost, president of AIS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bellevue, Wash.-based Esterline Technologies Corp., says the expansion will allow the company to increase its production capacity and work force.

"We see opportunities for growth in the future," Yost says.

Glacier 600 LLC, a development arm of Parkwood Business Properties, of Coeur d'Alene, is developing the addition, and AIS will lease it from Parkwood, Yost says.

The project is expected to be completed next summer, he says.

AIS employs 325 people at the 85,000-square-foot facility it occupies, which is at 600 W. Wilbur.

AIS makes custom keyboards, control pads, and other input devices. Its largest customers are medical-industry equipment manufacturers.

Williamson-Johnson Co., of Coeur d'Alene, is the contractor on the project, and Eixenberger Architect, also of Coeur d'Alene, designed it.