LEOMINSTER, MASS. - E.B. Kingman Co. Inc., an injection molding firm, will close June 13. The Leominster-based company is liquidating its assets. Company spokeswoman Sue LaPointe said the company has been for sale for a long time.
``The owner decided it was more lucrative to liquidate than to sell at this point,'' she said.
LaPointe added that though the company had customers when it decided to close, the last couple of years sales have declined. She also blamed a poor economy in the Northeast and a missed opportunity to downsize the company.
LaPointe would not disclose recent sales numbers for E.B. Kingman. The firm's most recent reported sales were $10 million for the year ending Sept. 24, 1994. The company served the automotive, electrical, packaging, consumer products, industrial, and waste management industries. The firm also reported last year having 100 employees. Now, Kingman employs five.
All machinery, including the 36 injection molding machines, have been sold to a liquidation agent.
Tupperware plans for headquarters
ORLANDO, FLA. - Tupperware U.S. Inc. plans to build a 60,000- square-foot headquarters on the site of its current base in Orlando.
Construction is scheduled to start in August with completion scheduled for the third quarter of 1997.
Cost of the two-story building was not disclosed. One architectural feature will be a 6,000-square-foot covered atrium.
The move is part of a centralizing of activities of about 175 employees in connection with Tupperware being spun off from Premark International Inc. of Deerfield, Ill., and assuming independent, publicly owned status this summer as Tupperware Corp. The maker of plastic containers has annual sales of about $1.4 billion; Premark about $3.6 billion.
TAP opens Philippines molding plant
OLONGAPO CITY, PHILIPPINES - Thomson Audio Philippines has opened a US$1.5 million injection molding facility as part of its expansion program.
Loic Meston, product segment manager for corded telephones, said TAP's operations in the Subic Freeport area of Olongapo City will be the largest telephone factory in the world.
At least nine product lines will be added to the current five. The company expects production volume to increase from 2.4 million telephone units in 1995 to 4 million to 5 million units in 1997.
``This plastic molding facility is actually going to be one of the largest plastic molding shops of all Thomson factories all over the world,'' Meston said.
TAP is one of the 17 manufacturing facilities worldwide of Thomson Consumer Electronics, a French company which makes consumer electronic products.
The company plans to increase its work force to about 2,000 by the end of 1996.
Husky picks Buffalo for distribution site
TORONTO - Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. plans to open its new Buffalo, N.Y., parts distribution facility in July, according to Stephen Morris, general manager of its Buffalo parts division.
The facility located next to Buffalo's airport will have 60,000 square feet of warehouse space and a 20,000-square-foot office. Morris said Husky has no plan to manufacture parts there. The Bolton, Ontario, firm contracts with a ``dedicated supplier base'' to make parts for its injection molding machines.
Other Husky officials declined comment on whether Husky has plans to expand it machinery production capacity in the United States.
Dirk Schlimm, director of corporate affairs, dismissed a report that Husky is considering Albany, N.Y., for a new plant. He said regional development agencies sometimes get overzealous in their efforts to attract new business, which leads to rumors.
The Capital District Business Review of Albany reported April 1 that Husky was considering Albany for expansion because its operation in Pittsfield, Mass., was having trouble negotiating more land to expand. Schlimm said that article is ``speculative.'' Reports last year suggested Husky was looking at Maryland and Virginia for a new plant but Husky chose Buffalo for the distribution site.