Unimark Plastics Co. is building its fourth plant, a $10 million facility in Springfield, Mo., to manufacture a variety of custom injection molded parts. Unimark, a division of Muncie, Ind.-based Alltrista Corp., said it would build the plant in two phases. In the first, now under way, the company is putting up a 42,000-square-foot building scheduled to be finished by January. The second phase, set to take place within the next three years, calls for the addition of another 23,000 square feet. Total employment is expected to reach 85 in the second phase.
Initially, the Springfield plant will mold shotgun shell components for Olin-Winchester Corp., Alltrista spokesman Larry Miller said.
In an interview in The Springfield Business Journal, Unimark division controller Harold Drumheller Jr. said the plant could be upgraded to mold medical products under clean-room conditions.
Unimark does a wide variety of custommolding for such customers as Johnson & Johnson, Baxter Healthcare Corp., Remington Arms Co. Inc. and Gillette Co. The molder also has plants in Greenville, S.C., Reedsville, Pa., and Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
Unimark is locating its plant on 15 acres in the Partnership Industrial Center, a 360-acre industrial park located along Interstate Highway 44 near Springfield.
In the past year, two other plastics companies have moved to the park: Contico International Inc. of St. Louis and Allibert-Contico, a joint venture of Contico and Sommer-Allibert SA of Nanterre, France.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development also has promised $98,000 in training funds for Unimark's Springfield workforce.
