Machining firm K&E Plastics Inc. plans to relocate to a larger facility, in Bennington, Vt.
The 24-employee firm in May will move from a 12,500-square-foot site in East Arlington, Vt., to a 32,000-square-foot building in Bennington, about 10 miles away.
The new location’s proximity will allow K&E to retain its employees, Vice President Eric Broderson said Dec. 28 by phone. Some cosmetic and electrical work needs to be done to the new building — which has been vacant for less than a year — before K&E makes the move.
Broderson said the entire cost of the move, including the building, will be less than $1 million. The larger building will allow K&E to have a “better work flow and organization layout,” he added, as well as making it easier for the firm to add equipment and machinery over time.
K&E hopes to add one or two production workers during 2013. The firm’s 2012 sales were up 20 percent to about $4 million, and Broderson said sales growth for 2013 could be even higher. The firm has seen solid growth in medical and aerospace work. Projects for the naval market represent K&E’s largest end sector.
K&E uses computer numerically controlled machinery — including vertical milling centers and lathes — to shape parts made from a variety of specialty and engineering resins. Parts made by K&E can range in size from subminiature to measuring 4 feet by 7 feet.
