WARMINSTER, PA. - Custom injection molder Eptech Corp. will relocate its manufacturing plant early next year to a facility four times larger to accommodate growth. Eptech will move from Warminster to a 46,000-square-foot plant in Mount Laurel, N.J., about 30 miles away. It plans to add more injection presses and increase its clamp tonnage range by mid-1997, according to general manager Chris Rapacki. The extra space in the Mount Laurel facility - which Eptech will lease - also should allow the company to introduce assembly and other secondary services, Rapacki said.Eptech now has 12 presses with clamping forces of 55-350 tons. Rapacki said all the presses are Goldstar models and Eptech ``probably will stay with them'' when it adds more injection capacity. He did not provide an estimate of how much money Eptech will spend on the expansion.
Rapacki attributed his firm's growth to its development of long-term relationships with key customers. Its main markets include electrical, transportation, ophthalmic and laboratory glassware industries. It molds commodity and engineering resins.
Rapacki estimated Eptech's sales at $2.5 million annually. He is a co-owner of the private company.
AUBURN HILLS, MICH. - Siemens Automotive merged its Tilbury and Windsor, Ontario, operations that make air induction components, such as air cleaners, ducts, resonators and intake manifolds.
``By combining these divisions we are better able to look at various air induction products as a complete air management system,'' said Tim Williams, vice president and general manager of the new operation.
Siemens said the new organization, known as the Air Induction Management Division, will allow for better opportunities to supply systems and modules to the global automotive market. Greater efficiency in production, development, processing and technical support also are expected.
The firm said the reorganization should not affect employment. A total of 337 people work for the combined operation.
The Tilbury plant makes air cleaner assemblies, resonators and air-handling ducts. Siemens said Tilbury also plans to produce injection molded and vibration welded clamshell-type manifolds at the plant.
In Windsor, Siemens manufactures intake manifolds using the lost-core process.
Siemens Automotive, based in Auburn Hills, said the Air Induction Management Division will be an operating group of its Induction, Emission and Fuel Components Division.
BUFFALO GROVE, ILL. - Krauss-Maffei Corp. and Courtesy Corp. held a formal ceremony Oct. 15 to mark the 100th Krauss-Maffei press purchased by the Buffalo Grove custom molder.
Courtesy bought its first Krauss-Maffei in 1989. The 100th machine, a KM 500-3000 B3, is being used initially to mold closures at Courtesy's Creative Packaging Division in Buffalo Grove.
Courtesy officials also announced the company has broken ground for an additional 300,000 square foot facility at its Buffalo Grove headquarters. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 1997 for the building, which will make medical products by injection molding, insert molding and injection blow molding.
Courtesy, with $75 million in 1995 sales, ranks as the 54th-largest injection molder in North America, according to Plastics News data. The firm runs 113 injection presses at three factories.
Over the years, Courtesy has purchased Krauss-Maffei injection presses, ranging in clamping force from 50-715 tons. Courtesy President Walter Kreiseder said he likes the accuracy of the company's machines.
Krauss-Maffei, based in Florence, Ky., is the U.S. unit of Krauss-Maffei AG of Munich, Germany.
BILLERICA, MASS. - Laminated Plastics Co. has relocated to a 16,500-square-foot plant in Billerica.
The company moved from an old, three-story mill building in Haverill, Mass., to the newer Billerica facility, which it leases, said Mike Burke, director of operations. There, Laminated Plastics operates three rotary thermoforming machines to make plastic parts for the medical equipment, defense and aerospace markets, among others.
Also a distributor of sheet, rod and tubing, the company has computer numerically controlled milling machines, three-axis mill-ing machines and other equipment for cutting and fabricating plastics. Despite its name, Laminated Plastics does no in-house laminating, Burke said.
The new plant offers a more-efficient layout for the firm's operations, he said. The former tenant, distributor Shrink Packaging Systems Corp., moved to Nashua, N.H.
Laminated Plastics employs 30, including five thermoforming workers. Burke would not disclose sales.