Urbana, Ill.-based Flex-N-Gate Corp., a manufacturer of auto parts, said Tuesday morning that it plans to add 68 jobs at its Covington plant in Indiana by the end of the year as part of a $5.1 million expansion.

The company said the investment at its plant 75 miles west of Indianapolis, near the Illinois border, will go toward purchasing robotic welding cells and improving supporting infrastructure.

Flex-N-Gate, which has 65 employees at three Indiana locations, already has begun hiring welding and robotic technicians, machine operators and assembly workers.

Indiana Economic Development Corp. said it will provide Flex-N-Gate up to $350,000 in performance-based tax credits and up to $57,950 in training grants based on the company’s job-creation plans.

Founded in 1956, Flex-N-Gate originally made racks for pickup trucks that featured a flexible roll-up rear tailgate. The company now makes parts for 40 auto manufacturers worldwide and employs 9,500 people at plants in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Spain.