Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Truesdell Enterprises Inc., acquired in January by the U.S. unit of France's HBS Technologies, plans to invest $5.7 million during the next 30 months to expand its tubing and profile extrusion facilities in Morgantown, Ky.; El Paso, Texas; and Auburn Hills.
Emmanuel Klinklin, chief executive officer of Truesdell's Auburn Hills-based parent company, Sofanou Inc., said in a news release the tubing extruder is doubling the size of its Kentucky plant from 30,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet at a cost of $800,000.
The addition is scheduled to be finished in late June or early July, according to Klinklin.
Truesdell Vice President Glenn Ernst said the company is not ready to release details of the expansions planned in El Paso and Auburn Hills.
The Morgantown investment involves $400,000 in new equipment, in addition to the cost of the building project, Ernst said in an April 8 telephone interview.
Separately, Sofanou Europe also is expanding, with plans to open a tubing facility in Hungary, near Budapest. The new plant is scheduled to start production Dec. 1 in a 15,000- to 20,000-square-foot building with three to five extrusion lines, according to Ernst.
He said he did not know the cost of the Hungary plant or how many people will be employed there.
Truesdell employs 160 at its three U.S. locations and has annual sales of about $18 million.
In addition to the United States, Anteuil, France-based HBS operates plants in France, Wales, Tunisia, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Argentina.
The combined group of companies has annual sales of more than $65 million and primarily serves the automotive and heavy-truck markets.
