Kasha Industries Inc. will begin operating new compounding capacity by the end of July that will enable the company to boost output by about 20 percent at its Grayville, lll., facility. Company Chairman Edwin Kasha Sr. said he sees ``big potential for compounding with our kind of experience.''
The company is investing nearly $1 million in two Davis-Standard 41/2-inch extruders and related equipment. The project is expected to increase the company's annual capacity to about 12 million pounds, he said in a telephone interview.
Kasha cited growth in post-industrial recycling as a key reason to expand. Kasha Industries regrinds plastic scrap, compounds it to improve properties, then resells it to injection molders and sheet extruders. It also pulverizes scrap plastics for sale to rotational molders, and for in-house compounding and color matching.
The founder of the 25-year-old compounder said his company mainly does custom compounding. However, it also makes proprietary products such as high-impact polyethylene alloy, using a range of commodity and engineering thermoplastics. It specializes in color concentrates and masterbatches, custom color compounds, color matching and reinforced compounds.
The Grayville facility now has four 41/2-inch extruders, two 31/2-inch extruders and several more with barrels of 21/2 inches or smaller. It operates a bank of 10 grinders and has pulverizing equipment. Kasha Industries is upgrading its electrical power system for the expansion but will not need to add space to its 130,000-square-foot plant. The staff of 35 will increase by as many as 12 when new capacity comes on stream, he said.
Kasha said he may open satellite plants on the East and West coasts to cut transportation costs, but he had no details or timetable. The company also exports to Canada and Mexico.
He would not disclose annual sales. Kasha is majority owner and his two sons own the rest of the private firm.
