Primex Plastics Corp. has begun extruding heavy-gauge polyester at its Richmond, Ind., plant. The company installed one line with capacity to extrude 6 million pounds of sheet per year, in thicknesses of 40-250 mils, according to spokesman Scott Starbuck.
The 750,000-square-foot plant also processes about 14 million pounds of thin-gauge polyester annually, he said.
The heavy-gauge sheet mainly is thermoformed or fabricated for display applications.
Eastman Chemical Co. ofKingsport, Tenn., supplies the copolyester resin.
The Richmond plant also produces 500 million pounds per year of polystyrene; 500 million pounds of polyethylene; 10 million pounds of ABS; and 10 million pounds of corrugated plastic. Starbuck said the plant will triple its ABS capacity by June or July.
Early this year, the firm expanded capacity at its color and compounding plant in Jasper, Tenn., adding a large continuous mixer and a twin-screw extruder, Starbuck said. Subsidiary O'Neil Color & Compounding Corp. makes color concentrates and specialty compounds, including fire-retardant ABS and PS, and mineral-filled olefins, both at Jasper and its Paterson, N.J., headquarters. The unit has annual sales of $200 million, Starbuck said.
Richmond-based Primex also runs extrusion lines in Garfield, N.J., Oakwood, Ga., and Mesquite, Nev. Its 1993 sales, $159.3 million, placed the company third among top sheet manufacturers in North America, according to Plastics News data. Last year, Starbuck said, Primex's sheet sales reached about $200 million. The private firm is owned by ICC Industries Inc. of New York.