Kangaroo Brands Inc., a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of specialty breads and frozen handheld sandwiches, recently finished an expansion that will create 50 new jobs over the next 12 months in the Milwaukee area.

Kangaroo completed construction this month on a second sandwich room to house a third and fourth production line for its Sandwich Bros. of Wisconsin line of frozen sandwiches. The refrigerated room increases Kangaroo's capacity by 25 percent and will house sandwich assembly and packaging, including robotics, conveying, slicing, wrapping and packaging equipment. The room is expected to be fully staffed and operational by the first week of September.

Currently, Kangaroo employs around 100 full-time employees and 70 contract employees. The expansion will create more than 25 jobs every six months, according to the company, a total of around 50 jobs over the next year, until a fourth production line is added in mid-2016. The majority of new jobs will include sandwich assembly and packaging, as well as sanitation, equipment technicians, line leads and administrative roles.