Nypro Inc. has acquired its second Singapore mold-making shop. The 13,000-square-foot, 40-person shop will serve Nypro's prospering injection molding businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China, and will export molds to other Nypro outfits, including in the United States, said Randall Barko, corporate vice president. The Clinton, Mass., molder has targeted the Asia-Pacific region for ``explosive growth,'' he said.
Nypro bought 80 percent of mold maker Theck Heng Industrial Pte. Ltd. from Singatronics Ltd., a publicly held electronics contract manufacturer with annual sales of $100 million. Singatronics still holds a 20 percent interest in the company. Barko would not disclose terms.
The Clinton custom molderwill changeTheck Heng's name to NyproMold Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Besides computer numerically controlled milling equipment and wire electrical discharge machines, Theck Heng also has a few small molding machines for small-run jobs, said Nypro spokesman Al Cotton. He said it is too soon to determine whether those presses will stay put or be moved to another site. For three years Nypro also has run NyproMold Singapore, a partnership specializing in computer-aided design and manufacturing of small molds. Like NyproMold, the new shop mainly will serve the firm's regional needs.
``Nypro has identified Asia-Pacific as the fastest-growing market for us right now geographically,'' Cotton said.
In fact, its 22-press Singapore custom molding plant is in the midst of an expansion, Barko said by phone Nov. 16. During the next 12-18 months Nypro-Singapore will add 22 presses, doubling its clean room molding capacity for health-care and telecommunications customers.
This year NyproSingapore, under Nypro's control since 1987, will do sales of about $11 million, Barko said. Next year's goal is about $15 million. This year Nypro's worldwide business brought in $247 million, a 25 percent increase over last year.
