APPLE VALLEY, MINN. - Wirsbo Co. will break ground this week on a 17,000-square-foot addition to its Apple Valley tubing extrusion plant. Wirsbo makes cross-linked polyethylene tubing used in radiant floor heating, snow-melt and plumbing systems. It reported sales last year of more than $21 million, a 50 percent increase over 1994, according to marketing manager Joe Pauley.
The firm's potable water plumbing system, introduced last year, is gaining sales momentum and represents 15-20 percent of this year's sales, he said by phone Sept. 12.
The expansion will almost double the company's manufacturing space of 60,000 square feet in Apple Valley, where Wirsbo is based. Next year, Wirsbo plans to add four to eight extrusion lines, and at least eight workers, to manufacture its XLPE tubing, Pauley said. The building should be complete by January, he said.
Wirsbo is a wholly owned subsidiary of pipe manufacturer Uponor Group, based in Espoo, Finland.
Cypress Philippines building Cavite plant
CAVITE, PHILIPPINES - Cypress Philippines Inc. of Cavite, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Cypress Semiconductors Corp., is building a US$60 million manufacturing plant in Cavite, south of Manila.
Cypress will make plastics-based products for semiconduct-ors and computers such as packaging and testing products, tapes, reels and integrated circuit assembly. Construction of the plant began in June.
The plant, on an 11-acre site, will house a 10,770-square-foot assembly plant and modern facilities for a wide range of processes, package types and test requirements to support the parent company's broad range of products through its static memory, data communications, and computation products division.
Commercial operation is targeted for next year, with production capacity of 84,500 units. Production is expected to generate sales of US$47 million in its first year, and US$135 million within the next five years. Sales are projected to hit US$183 million in the fifth year.
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Acro-matic Plastics Corp. of Leominster, Mass., has purchased a computer-integrated manufacturing system from Epos Corp. of Huntsville, Ala. The system should be installed on all 20 of the company's 66- to 700-ton molding machines by early 1996, Acro-matic said. The total system represents an investment of more than $250,000 for the custom molder, which serves the automotive, medical, computer and industrial markets. Acro-matic employs 140 and reports annual sales of more than $10 million.
In May Dunsirn Industries opened a converting facility in Chicopee, Mass. The plant houses three high-speed slitter/rewinders that can custom convert rolls of flexible film, paper and nonwovens as wide as 104 inches and finished rolls as narrow as 11/2-inch. It employs 50. The new, 81,000-square-foot plant represents a $6 million investment, according to general manager Daniel Sanner. The company also offers distribution and warehousing, he said. Dunsirn's other plants are in Neenah, Wis., and Greensboro, N.C.
Bruce Plastics Inc. has added 10,000 square feet and four presses, with clamping forces of 39-400 tons, to its Pittsburgh injection molding operation. The expansion boosts Bruce's plant space to 130,000 square feet and its total presses to 28, the firm said in a news release. Bruce makes stock and custom molded products for the appliance and automotive industries. It also offers part and mold design, mold building, sonic sealing, hot stamping and assembly.
GenCorp Inc. opened an office in Singapore Sept. 1 to serve the Asia-Pacific region. GenCorp Overseas Inc. will develop new customers and markets for GenCorp's decorative calendered products through joint ventures and alliances, according to a company news release. Among its calendered products are decorative and industrial laminates, engineered films for graphic arts, vinyl upholstery and wallcoverings. GenCorp is based in Fairlawn, Ohio.
AEP Industries Inc.'s board of directors recently approved a cash tender offer to buy up to 1,083,000 shares of the firm's common stock at $22.75 per share. The company makes and markets low density polyethylene plastic film products. It is entering into a $140 million loan facility with Chase Manhattan Bank and Mellon Bank NA to provide the firm with funds to effect purchases pursuant to the tender offer, to refinance existing debt and to meet the future needs of the firm's business.
West Penn Plastic Inc. has added a 725-ton Cincinnati Milacron injection molding machine at its recently expanded New Castle, Pa., plant. ... Cascade Engineering Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich., has installed two new, 2,500-ton presses to mold automotive acoustical barrier assemblies for Big Three carmakers. Cascade reported in a news release its market for the product has risen 40 percent since January. ... Black Clawson-Sano of Amelia, Ohio, has sold an Afex high-speed, 134-inch surface winder to Atlantis Plastics Inc. of Miami. The winder will complete a multilayer blown film coextrusion line at Atlantis' Cartersville, Ga., plant. ... Clopay Plastic Products Co.'s Augusta, Ky., facility received ISO 9001 certification. The plant produces plastic film and laminates for various medical end-use applications. ... Gomar Mfg. of Linden, N.J., opened a 60,000-square-foot facility as Gomar - National Industries. The company will complement the laminating, coating and metallizing operations of Gomar and National Metallizing of Cranbury, N.J. ... Carlisle Plastics Inc., headquartered in Phoenix, has been selected to supply Unisource with can liners. Unisource of Valley Forge, Pa., is in the institutional distribution business. ... The Polyurethane Division of Flexible Products Co. has finished phase one of its Marietta, Ga., plant expansion. Phase two's planned completion is June 1996. The unit makes a variety of PU chemical systems.
