PORT RICHEY, FLA. (Dec. 18, 3:25 p.m. ET) — Florida prototype injection molder and toolmaking specialist Seaway Plastics Engineering Inc. has purchased Excalibur Manufacturing Corp. in a move that expands its ability to deliver everything from prototype tooling and molding to mid-volume production.
Seaway, based in Port Richey, Fla., will retain the employees, operations and facility of the former Excalibur in nearby Brooksville, Fla. It completed the acquisition in mid-December, Seaway CEO Tim Smock said in a Dec. 18 telephone interview.
Seaway focuses on fast development of tools and prototype production as well as tryouts for transferred tooling. With the Brooksville plant, the company will be able to take advantage of additional capacity there to focus on low- to mid-volume production, while focusing on niche manufacturing in Port Richey, he said.
Both sites use Nissei presses, which will also help to streamline molding operations between the two sites. The acquisition brings a total of 26 presses into the Seaway operations, ranging in size from 44 tons to 500 tons.
Excalibur and Seaway have some of the same customers in the industrial electronics industry, but Excalibur adds some new business to Seaway’s base, Smock said. Excalibur also molds for the water irrigation and purification industry along with some aerospace and defense work. About 50 percent of Seaway’s work is in the medical industry with additional work in defense and aerospace.
The acquisition caps off a year which saw Seaway complete a $2 million expansion in Port Richey with another 20,000 square feet of manufacturing and new presses.
Smock and business partner Paul Bernard, Seaway’s president, also own Florida Finishing LLC, a plastics decorating and painting business. In 2012, Florida Finishing moved from Odessa, Fla., to a facility adjacent to Seaway.
