Precision Plastics Inc. is spending about $500,000 to upgrade and expand its custom thermoforming operation in Memphis, Tenn. President Dennis Currie said his firm needs more capacity and efficiency to handle an expected surge in orders this year for thin-gauge and heavy-gauge products.
Precision began leasing another 12,000 square feet of plant space late last year, bringing its total to 45,000 square feet, and is renovating the addition to house its in-line thermoformers. By the end of March it will install a new in-line machine in the addition with its seven current in-line machines, Currie said.
``We'll probably add another in-line machine later this year,'' he said. Precision also has two rotary thermoformers and two single-stage machines.
Thin-wall packaging and heavy-gauge machinery housings are the firm's largest businesses. It had sales of $2.8 million last year, up from $1.9 million.
Currie said ABS and PVC are the company's major materials, but Precision expects to land a large glycol-modified PET account for thin-gauge, disposable frameworks this year. He estimated that this account and other new business could add another 2 million pounds of sheet consumption to last year's total of 1.4 million pounds. The firm's installation a few years ago of computer numerically controlled trimming technology has helped it capture business for tight-tolerance production, Currie said.
The family-owned business established in 1983 employs 29, but Currie said he plans to hire more management-level people.
