Staff reporter Shannon Ledson wrote the following briefs from the National Design and Engineering Show, March 13-16 in Chicago. Bastech to combine two plants into one
Rapid prototyping and tooling group Bastech Inc. is looking to consolidate its two facilities in Dayton, Ohio, into one larger building.
The company currently is seeking a 25,000-square-foot plant in the Dayton area because it has grown out of its pair of 5,000-square-foot manufacturing spaces, said Claude Campbell, company sales manager.
Bastech was all set to sign the papers on a 25,000-square-foot plant in Dayton when the deal fell through March 20, he said.
"We have two facilities about a half mile apart and this was exactly in the middle," Campbell said. "Actually somebody just came in and offered a bit more money."
A.L. Hyde to focus more on electronics
Traditionally a custom extruder for the food and automotive industries, A.L. Hyde Co. now plans to focus more on the computer and electronics market with a new electricity-conducting thermoplastic.
Actually, the Grenlock, N.J.-based company developed the material about four years ago but has been unable to market it due to a limited budget, said Bruce Dickinson, director of sales.
The family of thermoplastics is called Hydel and has carbon microfillers that allow the materials to conduct electricity while protecting the finished product from static charges, he said.
"It's used during the manufacturing of computer components; hard drives, disk drives and electronics boards in general," Dickinson said.
Though many of these products already exist, those contain fillers that are made of larger carbon fibers, he said.
"Because these parts are smaller, we can put less of the microfibers in the material and get the same technology. The lower the fillers the less you affect the physical properties," Dickinson said.
A.L. Hyde will extrude the materials into rod and sheet form at its Grenlock plant. The company has two more facilities in Moonachie, N.J.
Extrutech Plastics installing six lines
Custom profile and tubing extruder Extrutech Plastics Inc. will have six new lines installed in the coming months, customer service representative Geri Barcenas said.
The company already runs 12 lines at its Manitowoc, Wis., headquarters. Extrutech reported $7.6 million in 1998 sales.
Laser Molding Inc. adding office space
Stereolithography company Laser Molding Inc. plans to expand its Schaumburg, Ill., offices by 2,100 square feet later this year.
The building next to their existing 4,200-square-foot space will be up for rent in late 2000 and LMI plans to knock down the wall between the two, sales manager Donald Schmeltzer said.
With the company recently bringing reaction injection molding in house, it has run out of room, he said.
LMI also is hoping to buy two more stereolithography machines this year, Schmeltzer said.
Firms collaborate to fabricate lineals
Custom extruder Intek Plastics Inc. is working with Aspen Research Corp. to manufacture lineals made from that company's wood/PVC composite material.
Aspen, of White Bear Lake, Minn., will continue to manufacture the compound while Hastings, Minn.-based Intek will coextrude the profiles coated with PVC, said Greg Mitsch, vice president and general manager of Intek.
"We've been doing more and more with the composite material," he said.
Mitsch did not specify the end markets for the lineals.
Intek currently operates two facilities in Hastings totaling 225,000 square feet and next month will open another 51,000-square-foot plant in nearby Eau Claire, Wis., he said.
Initially, the new building will house four coextruders but will have room for four more. The company hopes to have as many as 26 extruders running by the end of the year, Mitsch said.
Intek employs 300 and reported $35 million in 1998 sales, coming in at No. 51 on Plastics News' ranking of North American pipe, profile and tubing extruders.