McClarin Plastics Inc. plans to expand thermoforming capacity to meet growing demand for polyethylene pickup truck bed liners. The Hanover, Pa., thermoformer expects to spend about $500,000 at its recently opened second plant in Hanover, said President Todd Kennedy. By August, McClarin will install a three-station, gas-fired rotary thermoforming machine dedicated to bed liners, plus trimming and other equipment.
The new line will be McClarin's second in the facility, which came on stream in June. Kennedy said his company spent more than $2 million to build the 35,000-square-foot plant on six acres of land and equip it with a thermoforming line. The line, and a line at McClarin's original plant, are dedicated to making bed liners for York Products Inc., a Hanover marketing firm also owned by Kennedy.
McClarin's original Hanover plant has six thermoforming lines.
Its other major products include materials-handling equipment, an ABS instrument-handling-panel housing for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and packaging. It specializes in heavy-gauge and pressure forming production.
Kennedy said most of McClarin's growth last year was fueled by truck bed liners and the Harley-Davidson housing. Its thermoforming sales for the year ended Dec. 31 were $11.9 million, up from $9 million the previous year. The company employs 104.
McClarin sources sheet from outside suppliers. Its annual resin consumption of about 51/2 million pounds and its use of a variety of gauges do not justify in-house extrusion, Kennedy said.
