Plastics News senior reporter Bill Bregar and correspondent Frank Antosiewicz filed these reports from Plasti/Conn 2000, held March 30 at the Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford, Conn. Spectrum purchases 4 injection presses
A year after moving into a new factory, Spectrum Plastics Molding Inc. is adding more injection molding machines.
Spectrum has ordered four 40-ton injection presses — two Arburgs and two Nisseis —according to Fred Beermuender, national account manager.
Those machines will bring Spectrum's total molding stable to 56 presses in the new plant in Ansonia, Conn.
The largest machines have a clamping force of 170 tons. Spectrum specializes in molding small parts from engineering resins. The company does insert molding and a method of molding small parts on coils of metal ribbon, called reel-to-reel molding.
In early 1999, Spectrum moved from a leased 27,000-square-foot plant in Ansonia to the newly built, 66,000-square-foot factory two miles away.
Conn. custom molder to double its size
Northeast Mold & Plastics Inc. of Glastonbury, Conn., is negotiating for land to build a new plant in Glastonbury and double its size.
The custom injection molder makes small, precision parts on 14 injection presses, ranging in clamping force from 28-300 tons, President Maury Bodeau said. Northeast exhibited at Plasti/ Conn 2000. The firm employs 35.
Bodeau said Northeast's factory measures 15,000 square feet. "We've been in this building six years and we've already outgrown it," he said.
Bodeau is negotiating with the town of Glastonbury to buy eight to 10 acres in an industrial park. He eventually wants to build a plant of about 35,000 square feet.
J&L Plastic Molding buys CNC machine
HARTFORD, CONN. — Martin Kellaher claims it was coincidental that the new Haas computer numerically controlled vertical machining center was positioned next to J&L Plastic Molding's booth at Plasti/Conn 2000.
But Kellaher, J&L's director of sales and marketing, used the opportunity to discuss change at his Wallingford, Conn., firm.
The firm had purchased the CNC machine a few weeks earlier and plans to have it installed in the next few weeks. J&L Plastic, which employs 35, does mold making and injection molding.
"We would like to be more involved in the design stage — where concepts become part of the design — and help with the material choice," Kellaher said.
The company also has added an online ordering system. Using an identity number and a password, customers can check part inventory, pricing, or make orders.
J&L Plastic formed in 1972 and moved to its present 23,000-square-foot site in 1991. The company has 41 presses with clamping forces from 22-220 tons. Len Rossicone is president and chief operating officer.
The company purchased the Haas CNC from Trident Machine Tools of Bloomfield, Conn.
According to Kellaher, medical customers account for at least 50 percent of J&L's business. Other key areas include electronics, aerospace and filtration systems.
J&L Plastic Molding is a division of J&L Tool Co. Inc.