MANCHESTER, TENN. — Japanese-owned auto parts molder M-Tek Inc. plans to set up an injection molding plant in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
The firm announced Feb. 23 that it will spend $15.5 million on the project, including a 100,000-square-foot plant and machinery. It will supply Honda assembly plants in Marysville, Ohio, and Alliston, Ontario, M-Tek human resources manager Steven Richardson said in an interview.
Richardson said the Upper Sandusky operation, M-Tek's second, will mold interior trim. M-Tek's original plant, established in Manchester in 1986, molds interior trim for Honda, Nissan and Ford assembly operations.
M-Tek will start with two 3,000-ton presses, and one each with clamping forces of 1,300, 850 and 450 tons, according to David Cook. Cook is a lawyer with Verys Sater Seymour and Pease LLC, the Columbus, Ohio, law firm assisting M-Tek on legal issues.
Richardson said his company chose Upper Sandusky to be nearer to Honda's facilities. M-Tek will break ground at its site in April and expects to be fully operational next summer. It is receiving local and state incentives to locate in Upper Sandusky and create 150 jobs with an annual payroll of $2.2 million.
M-Tek is a subsidiary of Kasai Kogyo Co. of Japan.
Vinyl Institute's Robert Burnett to retire
WASHINGTON — Robert Burnett, who has led the Vinyl Institute since 1992, is retiring.
Burnett, 63, will be replaced by Timothy Burns, who is executive vice president of the Healthcare Leadership Council, a Washington-based lobbying organization for health-care executives. Burns had been a longtime employee of the Chemical Manufacturers Association in Arlington, Va. He left there in April 1997 as vice president of federal government relations.
Officials said Burns would begin March 11.
Burnett said the VI board asked him to remain with the organization through its move to the Washington headquarters of its parent, the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. That was completed in January.
Burnett said he ``pointed with some pride'' to vinyl's four consecutive years of record demand in the face of environmental challenges.
Burnett said he may remain as a consultant to VI.
Resource Plastics goes on selling block
BRANTFORD, ONTARIO — Polyethylene recycler Resource Plastics Inc. is up for sale.
The Brantford-based firm shut down Feb. 1 as its owners tried to restructure. They were unsuccessful and decided to sell the operation, General Manager Rick Cassidy said in a telephone interview.
The film and bottle recycler has been losing money because of low prices for recycled PE. Two years ago it restructured to avoid bankruptcy.
Cassidy estimated Resource's book value at about C$4 million (US$2.7 million), including accounts receivable. Assets include extrusion lines, injection molding equipment, wash systems, silos and blenders.
Mintz & Partners Ltd. of Toronto is inviting offers for Resource's assets until March 9.
Brazilian magazine to reprint PN stories
AKRON, OHIO — Better brush up on your Portuguese, because that is the latest language in which you soon will be able to read some Plastics News stories.
Brazil's Plasticos em Revista has agreed to republish in its pages each month some Plastics News content in Portuguese, the native language of Latin America's largest country.
``This partnership will help readers of Brazil's leading plastics publication keep abreast of relevant developments in North America, while also serving to raise PN's profile in that vitally important market,'' said Plastics News Publisher Tony Eagan.
Plasticos em Revista is published by Sao Paulo-based Editora Definicao Ltda., which is owned by the wife-and-husband team of Beatriz and Helio Helman, who purchased the 12,000-circulation monthly magazine in 1984.
Using the Plasticos em Revista booth as their home base, Plastics News senior reporter Bill Bregar and Brazil correspondent Sandra Mara Costa will cover the March 8-13 Brasilplast '99 trade show in Sao Paulo.