TORONTO - Richards Packaging Inc. plans to add blow molding capacity this year at its recently opened Toronto-area plant. Richards expects to add a 14th extrusion blow molding machine at the site and to install its first stretch blow molder for glycol-modified PET there, according to Vice President Howard Sandys. The facility now molds containers smaller than a teaspoon and as large as 5 gallons.
Richards expanded its Toronto-area operation when it moved it from the suburb of Woodbridge to Etobicoke, Ontario. The Woodbridge facility had 11 extrusion blow molders before Richards vacated the 30,000-square-foot facility last November. Richards officially opened the Etobicoke plant Feb. 16.
Sandys said Richards moved because it needed more manufacturing space and electrical power capacity.
He did not disclose a cost estimate or timetable for the upcoming Etobicoke plant capacity addition, but he said his firm invested about C$2 million (US$1.4 million) to purchase the 80,000-square-foot plant in Etobicoke, upgrade it and add two blow molders.
Richards makes custom and proprietary containers for health, food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other industries. It had blow molding sales of US$18.5 million for the year ended Oct. 31. Total sales of US$55.4 million included distribution of its own and other suppliers' packaging products, including glass bottles and closures, from 13 service centers across Canada and the United States.
Sandys said his firm also runs two plastic container plants in Vancouver, British Columbia, with total area of about 70,000 square feet and 15 blow molding lines, including stretch blow capacity.
The three operations blow mold PVC, polyethylene, polypropylene, PET and PETG.
Richards, of which Sandys is part owner, is a private firm established in 1912. It employs about 110 in blow molding.
