WOODLAWN, OHIO - A Midwest vinyl window fabricator, Vinyl-max Corp., announced plans to more than double manufacturing space in suburban Cincinnati. Vinylmax President Jim Doerger said the firm, which currently employs about 80, expects continued steady growth in demand for vinyl windows.
The company will move from its current 43,000-square-foot plant in Woodlawn, to a 100,000-square-foot leased plant in Sharonville, a few miles away.
Doerger said the move will double manufacturing capacity, but he declined to provide sales figures. The firm is privately held.
Vinylmax buys extruded window profiles from Dayton Tech-nologies and fabricates them into more than a dozen styles of vinyl windows for remodeling and new construction. Dayton Technolo-gies is in Monroe, Ohio.
The Vinylmax announcement last month came a few weeks after the news that Ohio would lose a 200-employee vinyl window fabrication facility operation, Alcoa Vinyl Windows, which is moving from Springboro, Ohio, to Rantoul, Ill. Alcoa already runs a wood window factory in Rantoul.
Venture using RTM to make wing parts
WALLINGFORD, CONN. - Dow-United Technologies Composite Products Inc. is using advanced resin transfer molding to make wing components for the new F-22 fighter jet.
Dow-UT is making the wing parts at Wallingford, along with roughly 100 other parts, for each of the first 11 F-22 fighters, under a $30.2 million contract with Boeing Co. and Lockheed Corp.
Each wing requires a set of 22 sine wave spars, said Dow-UT spokesman Michael J. London. Each molded spar has its own distinct dimensions.
Dow-UT has invested more than $10 million during the past two years to scale up its RTM production, in which carbon fibers are used to reinforce epoxy and other resins to create strong, lightweight parts, he said.
The process will save about $250,000 on average, per aircraft, compared with hand lay-up, Dow-UT said. The F-22 will replace the U.S. Air Force's F-15 fighter.
Dow-UT is a joint venture be-tween Dow Chemical Co. and United Technologies Corp. Dow-UT, based in Wallingford, also has plants in Tallassee and Mont-gomery, Ala.