The following news briefs were filed by Plastics News reporter Roger King at the EastPack packaging conference in Philadelphia. Only 2 years old, injection molder Advantage Puck Group Inc. will double the 2,800 square feet at its facility in Mishawaka, Ind., this year, said President Kurt Sieber.
The company makes pucks-standardized assembly line transport media that allow containers of many sizes and shapes to run through packaging machinery. The firm's largest customers are in the personal-care and cosmetic industries.
Mold making, done in-house, meets the industry-standard 72-hour turnaround time, he said.
Advantage Puck operates two Van Dorn Demag injection molding machines with 300 tons of clamping force each and one 125-ton Cincinnati Milacron machine, he said.
Sieber is involved in another startup company, Integrated Puck Systems of Ivyland, Pa., which makes equipment to place containers in pucks before they go through the packaging line.
Free-Flow planning warehouse addition
Recycled polystyrene foam extruder Free-Flow Packaging Corp. will add 18,000 square feet of warehouse space to the 40,000 it holds in Atlanta, the Redwood City, Calif.-based company said.
The new space represents a $1 million investment, said Thomas H. Livermore, assistant to the president. The company began warehousing in the Fulton County Industrial Park, southwest of Atlanta, five years ago, he said.
Free-Flow's previous expansion was a foam extrusion line at its Redwood City location, which now is operating at full capacity, Livermore said.
Besides its Redwood City operations, the firm has plants in Los Angeles; Thornton, Ill.; Newark, Del.; Auburn, Mass.; Sarcelles, France; Harbrechtingen, Ger-many; and Heerlen, the Neth-erlands. Livermore pegged the private company's 1995 revenues at more than $50 million.
Irish extruder boosts U.S. manufacturing
Galway, Ireland-based PVC stretch film extruder Western Plastics will add 20,000 square feet of manufacturing floor space at its Calhoun, Ga., plant by mid-year, said president Thomas M. Cunningham.
The company plans to add two rewinding machines to the existing 40,000-square-foot Calhoun facility, in operation for 12 years. The company also plans to increase the number of employees to 50, from 45.
Western also has a plant in Temecula, Calif.
Dixie Poly expands rotomolding ability
Dixie Poly Drum Inc. will add two three-station rotomolding machines to the 15 in operation at its Yemassee, S.C., plant by June 1, its chief executive said March 19.
Seymour Zilbert, founder and chief executive of Dixie Poly Drum and its sister company, Bergen Barrel & Drum Co. of Kearny, N.J., said the $350,000 investment will expand the company's presence in the intermediate bulk container market.
Dixie Poly Drum operates in 15,000 square feet of space in South Carolina, besides the 22,000 square feet at Bergen Barrel & Drum, he said.
