MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. - Curd Enterprizes Inc. will expand production space this year to keep pace with mounting demand for its vacuum formed products. Deborah Waddell, president of the Mount Pleasant firm, said Curd will add 10,000 square feet to its existing 54,000-square-foot, two-building complex, to accommodate a new rotary pressure forming line by the end of the year.
The firm produces about 2 million pounds of pressure formed sheet per year for diverse large products such as industrial shipping trays, navigational buoys and drain pans.
The company has six existing lines, and about $3 million in annual sales. Founded in 1952 in the Chicago area, the company is aims to triple its business in the next five years.
Throughput
GROVE CITY, OHIO - Electro-General Plastics Corp. of Columbus has expanded its production space, which should boost throughput this year by 15 percent.
Pat Castro, owner of the thermoformer and vacuum former in Grove City, near Columbus, said 6,000 square feet of space and a 6-foot-by-10-foot vacuum former have been added to the existing 18,000-square-foot plant.
The company, with annual throughput of about 1.5 million pounds, makes products for the sign and display, lawn and garden, recreation, electronics, marine, aerospace, agricultural, automotive, industrial and appliance markets.
Solor Plastics buys new ovens, controls
TAMPA, FLA. - Solar Plastics Inc. of Tampa is upgrading its technology to improve efficiency and productivity.
The heavy-gauge thermoformer is investing about $200,000 to upgrade controls on its rotary thermoformers and trimming operations and to replace an electric oven and older gas oven with two new catalytic ovens, according to President Allen Thomas.
Solar Plastics began the program last year and expects to complete it this year. The firm recently began leasing an additional 22,500 square feet next to its Tampa facility.
The company has seven thermoforming lines for transportation, merchandising, medical, electronic and other components. It mainly processes polyethylene and styrenic resins. Solar Plastics had sales of $5.9 million last year, down about $300,000 from the previous year.
Sales growth spurs expansion at Kintz
HOWES CAVE, N.Y. - Kintz Plastics Inc. will occupy a 9,000-square-foot addition to its Howes Cave plant March 1 and start up a new rotary thermoforming line.
President Wynn Kintz said his firm is expanding because sales, including exports, are growing for Kintz's heavy-gauge and twin-sheet products. Its major markets include biomedical equipment, transportation, electronics and computers.
Kintz said his firm's expansion will cost about $750,000 and includes a new robotic trimmer. It has 10 thermoforming lines, most of them in 60,000 square feet of plant space at its main facility in Howes Cave. Kintz said his firm has a smaller plant in Tavares, Fla.
Kintz Plastics' thermoforming sales grew to $5.6 million last year, from $5 million. It employs 110 and mainly uses ABS, polyethylenes and polycarbonate.
English Plastics increases capacity
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO - English Plastics Inc. of Brampton has completed a $500,000 expansion of its thermoforming capacity.
Vice President Arun Kulkarni said laser cutting and sealing machines were added, increasing annual throughput capacity of 1 million pounds by 20 percent.
The company, which employs about 50, makes medical packaging and products for the recreational, electronics, aerospace, agricultural, industrial, lawn and garden and appliance markets.
English Plastics' sister company, Vacform Plastics Inc., of Brantford, Ontario, also has doubled its production capacity.
Kulkarni, who is also vice president of Vacform, said the company took over 100,000 square feet of production space adjacent to its existing, 67,000-square-foot Brantford facility.
The $5.4 million expansion included the addition of two extrusion lines to the company's existing two lines, and two thermoforming lines to augment the four lines the company operated in the old facility.
``We have expanded our capacity from about 3 million pounds annually to about 6 million,'' Kulkarni said. ``We were completely out of production capacity and needed more badly.''
The company makes extruded and thermoformed products for the food-service, agricultural and horticultural markets.
Polyform adding thermoforming line
DECATUR, TENN. - Polyform Inc. of Decatur will add a fifth thermoforming line to its plant by this summer to handle growing demand for its products.
The company serves the furniture, automotive and recreational components markets, and makes custom parts at its 40,000-square-foot plant in Decatur. It employs about 27.
Jimmy Womac, vice president for manufacturing for the year-old firm, said 1994 sales were $5 million, and annual throughput was about 750,000 pounds.
The firm is a wholly owned unit of PHP Components Corp.
Triad buys facility, to move by March 1
DETROIT-Triad Plastics Inc. of Detroit is moving to a new location by March 1 to streamline production. President David Swallow said the firm is moving from a 50,000-square-foot section of the former Packard auto complex to a 40,000-square-foot building it bought.
``Even though we won't have as much overall space, the configuration of the Packard plant limited production space, and this new location is much more open,'' Swallow said. He declined to give the new building's cost.
Triad operates five thermoforming lines, and will not add equipment in the new location. It makes medical packaging, automotive parts and consumer pro-ducts. Its annual throughput is 1.5 million pounds. Its annual sales are about $2.5 million.