Extruder Lauren Mfg. boosts lines, space
NEW PHILADELPHIA, OHIO — Lauren Manufacturing, an extruder of silicone and fluoroelastomers, is adding 38,000 square feet to its plant and headquarters in New Philadelphia.
According to a Lauren spokesman, the expansion will hold secondary operations, shipping, communications offices and storage. The company also is putting two more extrusion lines into the expansion.
Lauren manufactures seals, gaskets and weatherstripping. The company reported 1996 sales of $32 million.
The firm, which has 16 extrusion lines, plans to add four more by the end of the year.
It has not determined how many workers it will add to its current work force of 325 as a result of the expansion.
Inline Fiberglass Ltd. adds pultrusion plant
TORONTO — Inline Fiberglass Ltd. has set up a fiberglass pultrusion plant in Toronto.
The new 100,000-square-foot plant will double the firm's capacity to produce fiberglass lineals sold to fabricators of windows and doors. The Toronto company expanded because of increased U.S. exports.
Flex opens facility for vacuum coating
SANTA ROSA, CALIF.—Flex Products Inc. has opened a new vacuum thin-film coating facility within its existing plant in Santa Rosa, called Beta V.
The 60,000-square-foot facility cost $5 million. A spokesman would not disclose the company's sales. Flex Products is co-owned by Optical Coating Laboratory Inc. of Santa Rosa and Sicpa Holding SA of Switzerland.
New machines can handle webs that are 72 inches wide in gauges ranging from less than 12 microns to 700 microns. An electron beam coats PET film and polymer substrates by condensing metal onto large sheets of flexible plastic. The coated film may be used in the solar film and graphic arts markets.
Flex hired 10 people to work in the Beta V plant.
Fabricator Artistic expands operations
MANSFIELD, TEXAS — Artistic Plastics Specialties, a manufacturer and distributor of fabricated plastic fixtures for retail stores, expanded its Mansfield plant to 48,000 square feet.
The 19,000-square-foot expansion of the facility will open in mid-June, said Don Weatherby, co-owner. He would not disclose the cost of the addition.
The company, which makes sheet, rod, tubing and film, has 35 employees. Artistic, which uses computer numerically controlled routers and panel saws, did not add any new equipment, Weatherby said.
Fuji to begin making photo film in the U.S.
GREENWOOD, S.C. — Tokyo's Fuji Photo Film will begin making triacetate cellulose photographic film for the first time in the United States.
A new, $200 million plant in Greenwood will have capacity to produce 100 million rolls each year. The plant could be opened as soon as the end of this year.
The company, which has U.S. headquarters in Elmsford, N.Y., will be adding 100 jobs to its force in Greenwood. The company has six plants in that area making a variety of other products.
Briefly ...
H&N Packaging Inc. acquired PHN Packaging Systems Chalfont to provide a range of packaging products. Both converting companies are in Chalfont, Pa. Cost was not disclosed. PHN will take the name H&N to become a full-service printer and converter of laminated films, shrink films and specialty foils.
ISO 9001
The following received ISO 9001 certification: Cascade Engineering's Container Group in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Contract manufacturer Tech Group Tempe Inc. of Tempe, Ariz.; Sertapak Inc. of Ingersoll, Ontario, a designer of prototypes and maker of packaging systems; Cleveland, Tenn.-based Cleveland Tubing Inc., a corrugated tubing firm.
ISO 9001 & QS 9000
The following received ISO 9001 and QS 9000 certification: Lexington Plastics Inc. of Lexington, Mich., an injection molder for the auto industry; Marysville, Mich., company Jordan Creek Plastics Inc. an injection molder for the auto industry; supplier of engineered products to the automotive industry, Adac Plastics Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Marysville Products Inc., also of Marysville, an injection molder of automotive components; automotive injection molder and extruder Miniature Precision Com- ponents Inc. of Southfield, Mich.; Grand Blanc, Mich., injection molder and assembler NuTech Plastics Engineering Inc.
ISO 9002
The following received ISO 9002 certification: Manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging and curbside recycling bins Plastican Inc. of Leominster, Mass.; Plastocon Inc., an injection molder in Oconomowoc, Wis.; and blow molder Titan Plastics Co. of East Rutherford, N.J.
