Nypro to build another plant in Ireland
CLINTON, MASS. — A Nypro Inc. executive has confirmed that the company plans to build another plant in Ireland.
Randy Barko, vice president of sales and marketing, verified a report in The Irish Times that Nypro has chosen Waterford as the location for a new custom injection molding facility. The newspaper reported March 7 that the plant will employ as many as 400 within three years.
Barko confirmed Nypro has a project in Ireland, but he would provide no details because negotiations are under way with customers and local agencies. A public announcement could be made within a few weeks tying the project into a larger Nypro plan, Barko hinted in a telephone interview from the company's head office in Clinton.
Nypro already runs a molding plant in Bray, Ireland, that employs about 400. The Irish Times quoted Pat Holohan, Nypro Waterford's general manager, as pointing to a Waterford startup in May or June to make and assemble products for a client in the computer industry.
Placon expanding Wis. packaging plant
MADISON, WIS. — Thermoformer Placon Corp. is in the beginning stages of expanding its 270,000-square-foot Madison plant.
Construction began in early February on a 50,000-square-foot addition to the packaging facility, according to local news reports. The $8 million project is scheduled to be completed in June.
Five years ago Placon boosted capacity with a $5.3 million, 70,000-square-foot expansion — at the time, Placon's seventh since it was founded in 1966.
With $43 million in sales, Placon primarily makes packaging for hardware, personal-care, medical and food-service products. Company officials did not return telephone calls for comment on the expansion.
Beach extending automotive business
DETROIT — Beach Mold & Tool Inc. already has expanded its geographic reach. Now the company is out to expand its markets.
The New Albany, Ind.-based injection molder and mold maker aims to triple its business in the auto industry, senior sales engineer Duane L. Gettelfinger said during the Society of Automotive Engineers 2001 World Congress, held March 5-8 in Detroit.
Only about 5 percent of the privately held company's sales are in the auto industry now, Gettelfinger said. Beach hopes to boost that to 15-20 percent.
"We can manage the whole supply chain for our customer," he said.
Beach makes parts for a variety of customers in the telecommunications, computer, electronics, appliance and consumer industries.
The company has facilities near auto production factories in the United States and Mexico, Gettelfinger noted, with plants in New Albany and Emporia, Va., and two in Mexico — at Queretaro and Reynosa.
The two Mexico sites opened last year. Queretaro has 22 presses and Reynosa is operating with 11 now and plans to add nine soon.
Mack Molding cuts 90 jobs in Vermont
ARLINGTON, VT. — Mack Molding Co. has cut 90 jobs from three Vermont plants in coping with the slowing demand for business equipment and computers.
"We are taking measures to reduce costs" in the face of the economic softening, Bill Cooley, president of Mack's northern division, said in a March 9 telephone interview. "We feel confident Mack will rebound from this."
Mack placed 55 employees on involuntary layoff Feb. 26 at its Arlington headquarters plant, which now has about 125 people. Two months earlier, 30 workers had taken voluntary layoffs, and others were cut back to a four-day workweek. Those 30 volunteers are back on the job, and the shorter schedules were ended with the deeper layoffs.
At Mack's original plant, also in Arlington, the firm has laid off 20 and now has 180 people on the job.At a plant in Cavendish, Vt., Mack has laid off 15 workers and operates now with 185.
Cooley said Mack had initiated new sales efforts during the past year. "New business is under development and will come into play soon," he said.
Before the layoffs, Mack Molding employed a total of 1,800. The custom injection molder has 10 facilities in the eastern United States and Scotland.
