HOUSTON - PFI Vacuum Forming Inc. has moved its custom thermoforming operations to a new, 30,000-square-foot headquarters plant in Houston. PFI started building the plant in the spring, and production began in December with seven thermoforming machines and 42 employees. PFI had been leasing four buildings with a total of 20,000 square feet.
The new plant was designed to meet the firm's thermoforming specifications, streamlining production and consolidating operations under one roof.
``We have become much more efficient in the move,'' David Grice, vice president of sales and marketing, said in a telephone interview from Houston.
The privately held company had 1994 sales of $2.2 million, according to Grice. PFI expects sales to reach $3.5 million in fiscal 1995, he said.
``The increase is due to adding [sales representatives] during this past year,'' throughout the United States and in northern Mexico, Grice said.
Fifteen percent of PFI's business comes from U.S.-owned companies with Mexican operations, such as Hasbro Inc. of Pawtucket, R.I., and Johnson Controls Inc. of Milwaukee, he said.
``The major thrust of our business is in computer, electronic and medical,'' he said.
Most of those components are for original equipment manufacturers, he said.
Although PFI has no immediate plans to add equipment, Grice said the new plant can accommodate six more thermoforming machines. The company probably will add two machines in 1996, he said.
The 30-year-old firm has been under its present management for about 10 years, he said.
