Just a year after its third toy plant opened, in Perrysville, Ohio, Step2 Corp. has announced a $6 million expansion. Step2 spokeswoman Dotti Foltz said the company needs more manufacturing and warehouse space for just-in-time production of rotationally molded toys.
``We have to produce much faster and have additional warehouse space,'' she said.
The company declined to reveal the number and type of rotomolding machines that will be added. Step2 will add 65 employees, bringing the total to more than 300 workers in Perrysville.
Step2 began production last year at Perrysville in a 160,000-square-foot facility.
The expansion, announced July 8, will add another 128,000 square feet.
Thomas Murdough founded Step2 in 1991 with five employees. Just five years later, the company employs more than 1,000.
Step2 said it had sales of $85 million in 1995. That places it second on the Plastics News sales-based ranking of rotomolders, behind fellow toy molder Little Tikes Co. of Hudson, Ohio, which had estimated rotomolding sales of $206 million.
Murdough also founded Little Tikes, then sold it to Rubbermaid Inc.
Step2 is based at a 366,000-square-foot headquarters plant in Streetsboro, Ohio. The company also runs a 100,000-square-foot factory in Twinsburg, Ohio.