DETROIT — Faced with more-complex manufacturing processes, automotive injection molder May & Scofield Inc. plans to move to an updated facility later this year.
The company will move its flagship manufacturing plant from Howell, Mich., to a new facility in nearby Fowlerville, Mich., by the end of 1999, said Russ Lawhead, May & Scofield product and process development manager.
The company, based in Howell, will invest about $5 million in the new, 75,000-square-foot facility, Lawhead said during an interview at SAE '99, held March 1-4 in Detroit.
The move will help the company consolidate its tooling, engineering and molding operations at one location, Lawhead said. Currently, tooling and engineering are performed at a separate site in Howell.
The new plant will have more manufacturing floor space, Lawhead said. ``We could only be so efficient with the space layout we have,'' he said.
The company will move its injection presses from its current, 70,000-square-foot facility. The Howell plant has six horizontal presses with clamping forces of 200-500 tons and a similar number of smaller vertical presses, said director of engineering J.M. Lucas.
The company is broadening its product scope to insert mold more metal products as a companion to its plastic interior pieces, Lawhead said. The company is a major producer of lighting clusters for instrument panels, gear-shift indicators and other precision interior parts.
The move to the state-of-the-art facility will help the company expand its metal-forming capabilities to augment its molding work, Lawhead said.
The company also operates Alpine Molding Inc. in Gaylord, Mich., a producer of electronics and wiring harnesses that is owned 51 percent by May & Scofield. The processor has additional plants in Madison, S.D., and Camberley, England.
May & Scofield expects to record more than $35 million in sales in 1999, Lawhead said.