ROME, N.Y. (WKTV) - Bartell Machinery founder Michael Heisley visited the Mohawk Valley Tuesday, as the company begins a $14 million project set to be completed within a few months.

Bartell, located in Rome, is building a pressure armoring machine used to strengthen flexible piping - a vital piece in transporting crude oil.

"It's absolutely crucial to be able to get oil from under the sea, which is becoming the primary source of oil in the world today," Heisley said.

Heisley was in town to check the progress of the armoring machine, in addition to holding discussions with Royal Dutch Shell. Company officials could not discuss the nature of their talks with Shell.

The armoring machine is being built for French company Technip, and Bartell President Jerry Eisenhart says more of these machines will soon be produced for Technip in the near future.

As for Bartell's business, the company says profits are up 20% over all previous years, and though revenue isn't as high as 2008, this year is still proving to be the company's best year on record, according to president Jerry Eisenhart.

Bartell, which has locations in England and Canada plans to double in size in the next five years.

"We have the ability to add three more of these plants here its hard to say if that would be enough to cover us we may be looking at additional sites," said Eisenhart.