CPFilms Inc. announced last week it will invest $30 million in new facilities, equipment and increased capacity to grow its precision coating and window film business.
A 20,000-square-foot addition to its Martinsville, Va., headquarters recently was completed ahead of schedule and is to be fully operational by summer, said Phil Solomon, CPFilms vice president of finance.
The drive behind the expansion is to support CPFilms' core business: producing window films for residential building and automotive markets, he said.
"We were beginning to be constrained on capacity," Solomon said. "The principal desire in Martinsville is to produce more complex window film products and act as a support for other precision-coated products as well."
The 460,000-square-foot Martinsville operation is the largest in the company, with 520 of the total 720 employees.
The new plant will be equipped with multipurpose coating and laminating machinery, as well as a new high-speed packaging line that cuts and boxes films headed to retail outlets, Solomon said.
Also on order is a new sputtering machine, which is to be delivered by this time next year.
The expansion should increase the company's sales, which he estimated at $160 million, by 20-30 percent, Solomon said.
The firm expects to add 40-50 employees in the next three years, he said.
"Regardless of everything we've invested in physical equipment, what's important is our work force," Solomon said.
CPFilms, owned by Solutia Inc., operates additional plants in Axton, Va.; Canoga Park, Calif.; and Runcorn, England. Solutia paid $200 million for the company, formerly Courtaulds Performance Films Inc., in 1999 after Akzo Nobel NV bought Courtaulds plc.
