PARKERSBURG, W.VA.-Ames Lawn & Garden Tools has invested $1.8 million in its injection molding and blow molding plant in Elyria, Ohio-the third expansion there in the past five years. An Ames spokesman said the investment includes some new blow molding and injection molding machinery, but further details about the equipment were not available. About 30 new employees have been hired.
Parkersburg-based Ames claims to be the only lawn and garden tool manufacturer with in-house molding. The investment will boost the firm's production by 30 percent.
The expansion is part of a $7 million investment program that also covers two plants in Parkersburg and nine sawmill operations in six states. Ames is owned by Hanson plc of London.
Report says Husky studing U.S. site
TORONTO-Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. has studied Maryland and adjacent states as possible locations for a U.S. facility, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
The newspaper quoted unnamed sources in its Jan. 12 issue who said the Bolton, Ontario, injection press producer and mold builder may need as many as 200 acres and has looked at locations in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.
The paper also said an unnamed Husky source confirmed plans to build a manufacturing center in the northeast United States. Husky and state development officials were unavailable for comment.
Husky also received approval from the Peachtree City, Ga., Planning Commission to build a 20,000-square-foot technical center in a local industrial park, according to the Jan. 10 issue of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution.
Eastman adding PEN resin capactiy
KINGSPORT, TENN.-Eastman Chemical Co. of Kingsport said Jan. 11 it plans to increase its production capacity for polyethylene naphthalate to 22 million pounds per year during the second half of 1995.
The addition of continuous PEN production capacity in Kingsport will position Eastman as a leading supplier, according to Jim Lewis, vice president and general manager of Eastman's Flexible Plastics business organization. Eastman has produced PEN resins to fill orders in batch quantities.
Eastman announced its commercialization of PEN homopolymer in August, after seven years of product development and application refinement.
Jim Caldwell, market development manager for PEN, said the plant can produce PEN homopolymers and copolymers in a range of molecular weights. PEN is related to PET, and is used as a reinforcement fiber, and in biaxially oriented films, rigid packaging, and clear injection molded parts.
Eastman has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to permit the use of PEN homopolymer for packaging that would have the food in contact with the resin.
Modern Faucet add molding capacity
LOS ANGELES-Los Angeles captive molder ASG Modern Corp., doing business as Modern Faucet Manufacturing Co., is expanding its molding capacity.
The company, known for its kitchen sprayer heads, recently purchased four 160-ton Nissei molding presses, according to ASG President Michael Haugh. Two of the machines had been operating already at ASG under a lease agreement, he said.
The company is rebounding from a Chapter 11 filing under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. A Los Angeles investment firm bought ASG in a bankruptcy court auction in August, he said.
ASG makes plastic sprayer heads and kitchen faucet assemblies for sale to original equipment manufacturers and the plumbing aftermarket. It operates a total of 12 presses.
Haugh said ASG spent about $450,000 on the new machines.
Woodbridge Inoac plant evacuated
BARDSTOWN, KY. - About 160 employees in a Woodbridge Inoac Inc. urethane foam automotive instrument panel plant in Bardstown were evacuated Jan. 12 when some complained of dizziness, nausea and difficulty in breathing. Stephen Erwin, plant safety manager, said no connection could be found between the complaints and plant processes.
Erwin and county emergency service officials were investigating the source of the problem at press time.
