Plastics News reporter Steve Toloken reported these items from Medical Design & Manufacturing East, held June 2-4 in New York.
Goshen Ohio facility fires up 5 presses
Goshen Rubber Cos. Inc. has opened a fourth plastics processing site, a small, 20,000-square-foot plant with five injection molding machines in Englewood, Ohio.
The firm opened the operation last fall and moved medical and office equipment molding there from other plants to focus them on automotive work, said Larry Schnabel, sales manager for the thermoplastics division.
Goshen spent about $700,000 transforming a building that used to house rubber operations. The presses range from 33-500 tons.
``Medical is a fairly small segment but it is the segment we wish to grow,'' he said, adding its profit margin is 10 percent better, on average, than transportation.
GW to start molding near VT. tech center
Bethel, Vt.-based GW Plastics Inc. is opening a highly automated, 5,400-square-foot molding facility next to its technical center in South Royalton, Vt.
The plant will have four injection presses, plus a two-shot molding cell, with capacity for eight presses total, said President Brenan Riehl. The expansion cost the molder about $1 million. GW does about $51 million in sales, he said.
Riehl also became chief executive officer in May, succeeding his father, Frederic Riehl, who retired to become GW chairman.
Brevet blames slump on Mexican molders
Under increasing pressure from lower-cost Mexican factories, disposable connector maker Brevet Inc. now is running only seven of 22 injection molding machines at its Irvine, Calif., plant, said President Charles Brewer.
``We're seeing customers go offshore,'' he said. ``We can't compete with $2 a day or $20 a week. ... We've just found our customer base so devastated by offshore manufacturing and liberal government.''
Brewer said he is not sure if the company will establish production in Mexico.
