Hanson Group Ltd. of Ludlow, Mass., has expanded the capacity and geographical reach of its injection molding operations by acquiring Purchase Plastics Inc., a 17-press plant in Mayfield, Ky. ``We're going to basically double our molding capacity with this purchase,'' said John Rego, Hanson Group vice president of market development.
Hanson Group has 19 injection presses in Ludlow. The machines in both plants have clamping forces of 50-500. Hanson Group will continue to run both plants, Rego said.
The company reported $9.6 million in custom molding sales for 1994, up from $8.5 million the year before.
Hanson, owned by brothers Glenn and Dale Hanson, bought Purchase Plastics from its owner, Tony Jones.
Terms were not disclosed in the deal, which was announced April 7.
Sales were not available for Purchase Plastics, which employs about 55 people. Purchase Plastics is a solid company with older equipment, according to Rego.
``We will definitely be replacing a large number of machines in the next year,'' he said.
That could include buying a larger press, up to 700 tons in clamping force.
Hanson Group specializes in a complete approach to manu-facturing molded parts, including molding, tooling and secondary services such as assembly, welding, decorating and packaging.
``We tend to get very deep into a customer's product line as far as responsibility for it,'' Rego said.
Hanson has 150 injection molding employees in Ludlow.