Athens Plastics Inc. plans to install a paint line by early next year at its new custom injection molding facility. Athens General Manager Dwight Norris said his firm's new decorating department will paint Honda door panels it molds in the Athens, Ohio, operation. The paint line will include six to eight paint booths, Norris said in a telephone interview.
Athens Plastics, a new subsidiary of Wyn Molded Plastics Inc. of Circleville, Ohio, installed its seventh injection press in August. It began molding operations in May as a second-tier supplier for Civic and Accord models assembled in Honda's East Liberty, Ohio, facility.
It mainly molds door panels formerly made at the Circleville plant, primarily for TS Trim In-dustries Inc., also of Athens, which does assembly before shipping them to Honda.
Norris said Athens Plastics will save time and money by painting the door panels, a task now done in Wyn's Circleville plant. He did not disclose the cost of the paint line.
Norris said Wyn's Circleville plant got fully booked with orders but had no room to expand. Wyn decided to establish another molding facility and Norris helped the company locate two buildings in Athens, about 60 miles southeast of Circleville. The buildings housed an electric power plant before they were closed several years ago.
Wyn invested about $5.5 million in Athens Plastics. It spent about $500,000 to buy and renovate the two buildings with total space of 45,000 square feet, and $5 million on equipment, including seven injection presses with clamping forces of 940-1,800 tons. Most of the presses are JSW models but one, a 1,500-tonner, is a Cincinnati Milacron press. Athens Plastics employs 40.
Wyn also operates an 11-press injection molding facility in Leeds, Ala., called Wyn South Molded Products Inc., that molds beverage cases and other custom products. Wyn has 24 presses at Circleville making auto and business machine parts and components for baby toys.
The privately held company was established in 1977 by Wayne and Darlene Miller. It had sales of $17.5 million for the year ended June 30, 1994.
