EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Armstrong Mold Corp. in East Syracuse for years has been in metals and plastics, with the former easily outweighing the latter in importance. Now, however, the balance istipping because plastics are booming and the company's facilities are growing.
``We're definitely in the process of expanding. Over the past 10 years we've gone through some serious expansions in plastic and we've gotten to the point where we're building a new facility,'' said Paul J. Armstrong, the Boston-based sales manager for Armstrong Mold.
``We do prototyping and short runs in cast-able urethanes and [reaction injection molding]. It's all real low-volume stuff.
``We're not a production shop. It's not a case of going out and buying a bunch of machinery and cranking out parts. Every-thing we do is highly engineered.''
Armstrong Mold in 1994 had sales of $8.4 million and is anticipating sales of about $11 million this year, said Paul's brother Peter Armstrong, corporate vice president.
The company is family-owned. It has been in business for some 26 years and has about 130 employees and 20 temporary workers.
``There is a lot of strength in plastics right now,'' Peter Armstrong said. ``We're in what's become an expansion and relocation at the same time. We're putting up a building that is just under 18,000 square feet, where we'll put all our plastics manufacturing.''
The company currently operates two RIM presses; the new facility will have four. Armstrong Mold plans to add a rebuilt Battenfeld and a rebuilt Krauss Maffei.
``Our main business always has been prototyping in aluminum and zinc castings and also RIM and castable urethanes ... but our plastics business, which is about 12 or 15 years old, is taking off very strongly,'' Peter Armstrong said.
