Iowa-based toolmaker Marshalltown will invest $27 million to build a 200,000-square-foot distribution center in the Kansas City metro region.

Marshalltown, which supplies tools and related products to retailers including Lowe’s and Home Depot, will enhance its logistics capabilities with the new facility, strategically located to become a “key hub for distribution and a vital transfer point” between its operations.

Located in an industrial park at 435 Logistics Center in Kansas City, KS, the region offers access to 90% of the contiguous U.S. in two days or less by truck, as well as the largest navigable inland waterway in the country and four Class 1 rail lines. ACE Hardware has also recently located major distribution operations in the region, according to the Kansas City Area Development Council.

The facility will feature the latest in robotics and automation, setting a new standard for their distribution operations and enabling the efficient handling of products across all their categories of tools and equipment, company officials said in an Aug. 30 news release.

Marshalltown is a family-owned manufacturing company which offers more than 9,000 products for a variety of construction and home improvement applications.

Products from all categories of tools and equipment will be distributed from this new facility.

The privately held company has more than 700 full-time employees and currently operates facilities in Marshalltown, IA, Fayetteville and Walnut Ridge, AK, and Bushnell, IL.