AURORA, OHIO — Two companies — an extruder and a compounder — are teaming up to resurrect a former Lamson & Sessions Co. PVC pipe plant near Aurora.
CanTex Inc. of Mineral Wells, Texas, said July 10 it will establish an extrusion operation at the site of the abandoned plant in northeastern Ohio. Arch rival Lamson & Sessions produced PVC pipe in the same facility until 1996, when it moved its Aurora operations to Nazareth, Pa.
Also occupying the revived building will be Aurora Plastics Inc., a new compounding company based in Aurora. The firm is leasing 30,000 square feet of the 136,000-square-foot plant, and will employ about 12, according to a January letter from Aurora President Dennis Radkowsky to Portage County economic development officials.
``They've reached an agreement with the building's owners and are currently finalizing state and local incentives,'' said Sy Thompson, director of Portage County's Economic Development Office. ``We're very optimistic at this point.''
While the deal is not quite finalized, CanTex already is making plans to update the facility, its first in Ohio.
``We're in the process of bidding out for a materials-handling system,'' Rick Walls, CanTex chief operating officer, said in a July 13 telephone interview. ``Our plans are to get the plant up and running by the end of the year.''
Initially the plant — CanTex's seventh — will employ about 30 on four to six extrusion lines, Walls said. The company has hired a plant manager.
``We'll be expanding the facility in the years to come,'' he said.
CanTex makes many of the same product lines as Lamson & Sessions. Both companies extrude rigid PVC pipe and conduits. Both also injection mold electrical boxes.
Township and Portage County officials both recently approved an enterprise zone for the area, which would allow the company to apply for lower property taxes on new equipment for up to 10 years. The zone still needs state approval.
Privately held CanTex does not report sales figures, but Plastics News recently estimated the company's 1997 extrusion sales at $175 million.