CHICAGO — Colson Plastics, formed as a separate company a year ago, has purchased an injection molding facility in Gallatin, Tenn.
On March 1, Colson acquired the Tennessee plant of Toronto-based Shepherd Products Inc. for an undisclosed price. The 80,000-square-foot plant injection molds a variety of office furniture products, including chair components.
Colson Plastics is a division of Jonesboro, Ark.-based Colson Caster Corp., a manufacturer of industrial casters and materials-handling equipment. Colson Plastics, based in Monette, Ark., formed a year ago by consolidating injection molding operations run by Colson Caster.
Colson Caster and Colson Plastics are owned by Chicago-based Marmon Group Inc., a privately held collection of autonomous manufacturing and service companies with 2000 sales exceeding $7 billion.
The Gallatin acquisition is the third for Colson in the past two years. First was Conestogo Plastics of Waterloo, Ontario. Last year, the company purchased injection molder JBD Plastics, which had been part of British Casters Ltd.
The Gallatin facility gives the company three plants in North America, said Colson Plastics President Rob Coleman, whose company exhibited at the National Design Engineering Show & Conference, held March 5-8 in Chicago.
The plant operates 12 injection presses with clamping forces of 460-700 tons and has 60 employees, Coleman said.
"We needed additional capacity to run our volume," Coleman said in a March 13 telephone interview. "Our operations in Canada and Arkansas are growing."
Colson Plastics plans to expand the capabilities of the former Shepherd plant to mold a variety of Colson products. The company also injection molds components for refrigerators, tractors, elevators and other products, and uses a variety of engineered resins.
Colson Plastics is considering other acquisitions this year to boost its operations, Coleman said.
The company currently has 300 employees and about 80 presses. It conducts design and engineering work and does its own in-house mold making.
Coleman would not disclose sales figures for Colson Plastics.
