DETROIT - Detroit plans to issue revenue bonds to help Plastech Engineered Products Inc. build an automotive interior parts injection molding plant in the city. Detroit Economic Development Corp. plans to issue $10 million in bonds to go toward building a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing plant on a 12-acre site near a huge new Chrysler Corp. assembly plant. The company said it plans to hire 250 production workers and open the plant by early 1996.
The site is excess property the city acquired when it was planning for Chrysler's assembly plant.
Plastech said it expects the plant to supply several automakers. Privately owned Plastech of St. Clair Shores, Mich., has about 300 employees and plants in the Michigan communities of St. Clair Shores, Grand Rapids, Caro and Grandville.
Granger opens new rotomolding plant
CINCINNATI - Newly formed Granger Industries Inc. began rotational molding operations in Cincinnati in January.
``The industry is growing so much we saw a need for more capacity,'' said co-owner Peter Lang. ``There are not too many rotomolders in the [Cincinnati] area.''
Lang and partner John Grimes formed Granger late last year and have a McNeil 3,000-pound-capacity rotomolding machine in a leased, 10,000-square-foot building, Lang said in a telephone interview. He would not reveal the amount he and Grimes invested in the operation.
Lang said Granger is a custom rotomolder of chemical holding tanks, materials-handling containers and other large items. It primarily uses polyethylene and is capable of molding nylon.
OSHA cites violations at Ohio molder
AKRON, OHIO-The Occupational Health and Safety Administration has issued a fine and several citations for serious and repeated violations against Different Dimensions Inc., where a 700-ton injection molding press closed on the head of a worker and killed him Oct. 31.
Allan D. Jakacki, 37, of Amsterdam, Ohio, died instantly. He had been cleaning the mold, used to make clothes hangers.
After an investigation, OSHA on Dec. 13 issued a total fine of $36,400 against the company. Under a Jan. 6 agreement signed by Different Dimensions the penalty was reduced to $22,600.
Violations included failure to provide adequate training for safe operation of devices controlling energy that runs the machines, hand tools for removing material that required an employee to place a hand in the danger zone, and one injection press that was running with the back safety gate left open.
The OSHA report does not say what caused the accident. Officials at Different Dimensions, in Coventry Township near Akron, could not be reached for comment.
Court voids case against Drug Plastics
BOYERTOWN, PA. - A unanimous U.S. Court of Appeals tribunal Jan. 27 overturned a National Labor Relations Board unfair labor practices complaint against Drug Plastics and Glass Co. Inc., a Boyertown blow molder.
The United Rubber Workers had filed charges alleging widespread union-busting activities after a failed organizing attempt in 1991. The court's latest ruling, however, noted the complaint was filed with the court after the expiration of a six-month filing deadline. Another charge regarding an employee allegedly fired for unionizing activities was resolved earlier before an administrative law judge, who ruled that the worker had been fired appropriately for smoking in a sterile area.
``We view it as a great victory and are delighted to have been totally vindicated by the court,'' said Jonathan Kane, Drug Plastics' lawyer in Philadelphia.
The firm ranked 22nd in Plastics News' 1994 blow molders survey with 1993 sales of $57 million.
Plastic pallet meeting set for Chicago
ARLINGTON, VA. - A task force of the National Wood Pallet and Container Association will hold an organizational meeting next week to discuss how to include makers of other kinds of pallets, including plastic, in the trade group.
NWPCA's task force will meet at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 13 at the Hotel Intercontinental in Chicago, in conjuction with the Promat 95 show at McCormick Place. Companies interested in attending the meeting should call NWPCA in Arlington.
