ATLANTA - A major move into gas-assisted injection molding has necessitated the expansion of Reiss Corp.'s Blackstone, Va., plant. The firm, based in Englishtown, N.J., will add 50,000 square feet to its 110,000-square-foot Black-stone facility, according to Daniel Connors, director of operations.
The addition will be complete in late 1996. The company plans to add a 610-ton gas-assist press to the plant.
``We will also be adding two 1,000-ton and one 610-ton ma-chines to our Englishtown plant,'' Connors said in an interview at the Society of the Plastic Industry Inc. Structural Plastics Division meeting, held April 1-3 in Atlanta.
Reiss molds a variety of products at Englishtown, including sports-related and medical parts, and does painting and shielding. The Blackstone plant includes the firm's headquarters for its Ronsill Rubber specialty elastomer unit, which makes calendered and molded sheet, liquid injection molded parts and sponge.
``We are working to adapt the gas-assist process to some of our vertical machines,'' Connors said. ``Our vertical machines range in size up to 60-pound shots, and we have been having success with making a number of larger pieces.''
Connors said the firm also is upgrading its computer-aided-design capabilities at both plants.
Ontario blow molder to expand into U.S.
WOODBRIDGE, ONTARIO-Canadian custom extrusion blow molder Cousins-Currie Ltd. will expand from its home office outside Toronto into New York's ``Ro-chester-Buffalo corridor'' within two years, according to President G. Sean Seawright.
Equipment and building investment in the as-yet undetermined location is expected to be $13 million, Seawright said. The U.S. office initially will employ 20 in around-the-clock operations.
``The real growth [in our business] is in the export market,'' Seawright said.
Cousins-Currie, in Woodbridge for 20 years, exports 15 percent of its business to the United States. The company's output is 60 percent proprietary product and 40 percent custom molding.
The firm specializes in high density polyethylene rigid industrial containers for the chemical, agricultural and institutional food markets.
Other products, Seawright noted, include mannequins for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation instruction.
Cousins-Currie holds both ISO 9001 and 9002 certification.
North Canton Plastics moves to larger plant
NORTH CANTON, OHIO - North Canton Plastics moved to a new 26,000-square-foot facility in November.
The plant gives the firm an additional 16,000 square feet for manufacturing, warehouse and office space. The company also added four injection presses.
``We have completed the expansion and plan to continue refining operations to become more efficient,'' said Karen Kuebel, vice president.
Kuebel said that the custom molder was cramped in its previous, 10,000-square-foot facility. Now with more space and greater capacity, the firm ``will energetically pursue new customers and new projects,'' Kuebel added.
The company, based in North Canton, began operations in 1988 with six employees and two injection presses. The company now has 35 employees and 12 injection molding machines with clamping forces of 200-700 tons. The new facility also has overhead cranes.
The company has expanded three times since its formation, but has remained in the North Canton Industrial Park.
The company currently molds for the diplay, housewares, floral and automotive industries with engineering-grade materials.
Film coating maker to open N.C. facility
RALEIGH, N.C.-A Belgian company specializing in ionized sputtered coatings on polyester and polypropylene films for the retail security industry will open a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in North Carolina early in 1997.
Innovative Sputtered Technolo-gy North America general manager Dirk Lievens said the firm is a division of steel wire manufacturer Bekaert N.V. in Zulte, Belgium. Lievens said the $10 million facility will be built in the Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham, N.C.
Sputtered coatings technology involves placing magnetic layers onto a nonwoven substrate. The coatings process takes place in a vacuum chamber.
Very thin applications make placement on retail items unobtrusive, the company said.
The emitted spectrum of their magnetic field is easily detected by an antenna.
Excel Industries buys Anderson Industries
ELKHART, IND. - Excel Industries Inc. completed its purchase of Anderson Industries Inc. of Rockford, Ill., in a deal that totals $61 million.
Excel, based in Elkhart, also assumed about $85 million of Anderson Industries' debt. Anderson is a holding company that owns Atwood Industries Inc., a supplier to original equipment manufacturers of cars and recreational vehicles.
The purchase price includes five-year warrants for 381,000 shares of Excel stock at $13.25 a share and transaction expenses, Excel officials announced.
Excel expects to nearly double its custom injection molding business with Anderson.
In 1995, Atwood had about half of its $400 million in sales in the automotive markets.
Mobile products for recreational and other nonautomotive vehicles accounted for more than a third, and plastic products the remainder.
James Futterknecht Jr., Excel's chief executive, said in a news release that the acquisition will diversify company products and will forward its global expansion plan. Atwood has a plant in Queretaro, Mexico.
``Besides the General Motors and Ford seat track and shifter business there, we expect to produce other products currently exported,'' he said. ``We will also start up a door-frame program for [Volkswagen] and mold PVC quarter windows for a new General Motors program.''
Inline builds onto thermoforming plant
MILFORD, CONN.-Thermoformer Inline Plastics Corp. has built a new corporate office and mold-making shop and added new equipment in Shelton, Conn.
Construction on the 12,000-square-foot expansion to the Shelton plant for the corporate headquarters began in November 1994. Inline hired about five employees as a result of the growth.
``Employees were being added at the old facility [in Milford] and stuffed into nooks and crannies because of lack of room,'' said Thomas Orkisz, senior vice president. ``We just needed more space.''
The manufacturing plant in Shelton covers 300,000 square feet.
The corporate offices and a new, 6,000-square-foot mold-making shop are part of that plant. The firm added five or six more employees in the mold-making shop, giving it about 170 total at the plant.
Inline invested around $2.2 million on the expansion and tooling facility.
The firm has also added a Sencorp 3200 and two GN 3021 thermoforming machines and plans to add more GN thermoformers later this year.
The company, which also operates a plant in Europe, employs 80 at the 32,000-square-foot Milford facility.
With a total of 35 manufacturing lines, the company serves the food, medical and personal-care packaging industries as well as the consumer products market.
Inline's sales for the fiscal year that ended March 31 were $50 million.
Briefly...
Munekata America Inc. opened an injection molding plant in Tijuana, Mexico, in December. The $15 million plant has 12 injection presses and 165 employees. The plant makes polystyrene products for television cabinets, office equipment and musical instruments. Last year, the Dalton, Ga.-based company's sales were $35.5 million.
The Gardur plastics division of Saco, Maine-based extruder Garland Manufacturing Co. has added JAC Industrial Sales of Ballwin, Mo., as a sales representative for Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and southern Illinois.
