Glastic Corp. buys Great Lakes Plastics
CLEVELAND - Thermoset processor Glastic Corp. expanded by acquiring Great Lakes Plastics Inc. for undisclosed terms Aug. 31.
Great Lakes of Salem, Mich., is a compression molder specializing in thermoset polyester bulk molding compounds and phenolic compounds. Its main market is electrical components, similar to Glastic's major business, according to Daniel Coleman, Glastic vice president of marketing. Glastic also makes parts for appliance and telecommunications industries at its headquarters plant in Cleveland and in Jefferson, Ohio.
Great Lakes' annual sales are about $5 million, Coleman said in a telephone interview. Its former owner was Detroit-based conglomerate Evans Industries Inc. Officials at Evans and Great Lakes were unavailable for comment.
Coleman said Great Lakes General Manager Gerald McClure will continue with the operation.
Glastic compression and injection molds thermosets and supplies bulk molding compounds for its own use and for sale to other processors. Glastic also does pultrusion. Its owner, Crawford Group LLC of Grosse Pointe, Mich., said it would expand the business when it bought Glastic about two years ago. Its annual sales exceed $50 million.
Marko ceases Hayward, Calif., production
HAYWARD, CALIF. - A Marko Foam Products Inc. facility in Hayward halted manufacturing operations Aug. 1, but continues as a distribution center.
Marko laid off 28 workers and transferred remaining Hayward work and five or six people to other foam packaging sites in Corona, Calif., and Wilsonville, Ore. Marko now employs five in Hayward.
``We have staffed up the sales force [in Hayward] to get volumes'' back, President Tyson Peterson said in a telephone interview. ``We are committed to that market'' and, by year's end, will re-evaluate the situation and consider restarting production. The equipment remains in place.
Several factors hurt the Hayward operation, he said. ``Natural gas prices went up 600 percent over three to four months, electric costs went up, then volume went down,'' he said. ``Our key accounts decided to go elsewhere,'' including Tijuana and Guadalajara in Mexico, Texas border areas and China. Contract manufacturers moved some production.
``Everybody is slow in our industry,'' reflecting softness in the technology market, Peterson said. ``Being in the packaging business and foam specifically, we rely on the tech side of market.''
Founded in 1961, Corona-based Marko employs 270 and operates other plants in Salt Lake City; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and, since 1997, Mexicali, Mexico.
Fypon opens $3.5 million PU trim plant
SEVEN VALLEYS, PA. - Fypon Inc. has expanded its polyurethane molding operations with a $3.5 million facility in Seven Valleys.
The manufacturer of balusters, pilasters and window and door trim began full production in July at the 55,000-square-foot facility, said Jeanine Grim, marketing manager.
``We acquired the building a year ago, and it took us a year to go full circle,'' she said in a Sept. 6 telephone interview. Fypon invested $1.5 million to purchase the building, she said, and paid $2 million for renovations and equipment. The new location employs 56.
Grim said the firm processes 5 million pounds per year, producing 3,000 pieces a day. The company claims 40 percent of the market for PU building trim and also has manufacturing locations in Stewartstown, Pa., and Hunt Valley, Md.
Haemonetics moving plasma bottle work
BRAINTREE, MASS. - Haemonetics Corp. will relocate its plasma bottle production operation from Compton, Calif., to another of its facilities in Leetsdale, Pa.
The move will allow the company to make better use of Leetsdale's capacity, employee skills and technologies, Bob Ebbeling, Haemonetics senior vice president of manufacturing, said in a news release. The firm will make the move in November.
Haemonetics employs about 80 in Compton. It bought the California plant in January to make disposable plastic bottles used to collect blood plasma. It said the business is growing and sales rose nearly 30 percent last quarter. The Braintree-based company makes other medical disposables and automated blood processing systems.
