AUBURN – Enefco, a Minot Avenue manufacturer, is gearing up for increased production after contracting this month with one of the largest makers of check-scanning machines in the country – its second big deal in less than three months.

KIC Products, a subsidiary of Enefco, will begin producing a special line of cleaning cards for Panini, an Italian manufacturer of check-scanning machines worldwide. According to Celent, a consulting firm in the global financial services industry, Panini has two-thirds of the check-scanning market share of the top 100 U.S. banks.

“Out of the gate, this will most likely be the biggest product line we have,” said Peter Klein, CEO of Enefco.

The card uses Enefco’s patented waffle-weave technology to clean lenses and pathways within Panini’s My Vision X scanners of ink and other gunk that can accumulate while the machines process checks.

The company expects to begin producing the special cleaning cards within four weeks.

“There’s no question that our production volume will continue to grow; this is one more reason why,” Klein said. The company currently employs about 60 people and maintains sales offices in Europe and Hong Kong.

Enefco recently geared up for additional work following its August acquisition of KIC’s biggest competitor, Clean Team of San Diego. The purchase makes Enefco the largest manufacturer of cleaning cards in the world for machinery that handles money, Klein said. Among its clients are casinos, computer manufacturers, transit systems and vending machine operators.

The West Coast maker of cleaning cards will continue to operate with its same staff and customer base, he said. But some of the production work that Clean Team was outsourcing has come to Auburn.

“We’ve been running a full night shift for a couple of weeks now,” Klein said.

The merger of the two companies does a number of things for Enefco, he said. First, it doubles the company’s purchasing power, which will lead to lower production costs. Second, it allows Enefco to increase its marketing budget and launch a ramped-up promotions campaign.

“We’re spending a lot of money educating the market about the benefits of cleaning cards,” Klein said.

The gaming industry in particular is in Enefco’s sights. KIC already has a contract with JCM, the country’s largest operator of slot machines, tying its warranty to KIC cleaning cards. But Klein said a lot of casino operators are unaware of the savings related to cleaning cards.

To get his message out, he’s hired Rinck Advertising in Auburn to produce a video that will be aired at a gaming convention next month in – where else – Las Vegas. The amusing clip features an actor as Albert Einstein playing the slots whose money goes up in flames. A narrator makes a point about not needing to be a rocket scientist to realize dirty machines lead to malfunctions, which waste money and turn away customers.

“This would have been too expensive for us to do before we acquired Clean Team,” Klein said. Rinck is also preparing a campaign for trade publications that emphasizes the savings associated with maintaining money-reading machines.

Although he did not disclose the purchase price, he did say Clean Team and KIC had nearly identical revenues.

And in a happy coincidence, he and several of his staff will have an extended stay in Las Vegas. Just after the gaming convention is one for the banking industry where the Panini cleaning card will be unveiled.

“We worked with Panini for six months to develop this product,” Klein said. “We’re very excited about it.”