Fix-Corp International Inc. has formed a wholly owned subsidiary to make plastic pallets, using high density polyethylene from its recycling plant.
Palletech Inc. will manufacture pallets on a Wilmington 750 structural foam molding system. The machine will produce four pallets every two minutes, said Gary De Laurentiis, president of Fixcor Industries.
Fix-Corp's Fixcor Industries Inc. subsidiary recycles post-consumer HDPE in Heath, Ohio.
The company has invested about $3 million in the structural foam machine and auxiliary equipment. Fix-Corp has a $10.5 million credit line to fund licensing and equipment.
The firm plans to manufacture pallets by December and anticipates 1998 sales of $15 million. It will add 16 employees to run the machine.
``We have carefully chosen this value-added product to be integrated into our already-successful post-consumer HDPE business,'' Mark Fixler, president and chief executive officer of Fix-Corp, said in a news release.
``Currently, the manufacturing of low-tech wooden pallets is a multibillion-dollar industry, which, quite frankly, can no longer sustain itself; change is inevitable.''
Plastic pallets are lighter, stronger and more durable, ``and thus, a forward-looking, high-profit center for Fix-Corp International Inc.,'' he said.
The Heath plant also will add its third reprocessing line next month. The $1 million investment will double the plant's capacity to about 66 million pounds per year. The plant will add eight employees to its staff of 60.
The new line is necessary to support pallet production and expected strong demand. Resin from the original two lines has been sold out through 1998, according to the company.
The Beachwood, Ohio-based company expects sales of around $10 million this year. It bought the recycling plant from Millennium Chemicals Inc.