Formation boosts equipment, markets
QUINTER, KAN.-Formation Plastics is installing a pressure former and a five-axis computer numerically controlled trimmer to help it penetrate new markets.
The Quinter thermoformer plans to boost its presence in consumer products and enter transportation, medical and lawn and garden markets, said owner Galen Huffman. The pressure former, Formation's third machine, probably will make mainly heavy-gauge products, he said in a telephone interview.
Formation doubled its production floor space to 10,000 square feet last summer as the initial phase of an expansion. Huffman said the firm spent about $350,000 on the building addition and new equipment.
The company needs more space to handle its growth. Formation had sales of $519,000 last year, up 13 percent from 2000. The extra work spurred the company to triple employment to 15 last year, according to Huffman.
Huffman established Formation, his second company, in 1989. He previously owned thermoformer Portman Inc. but sold that firm in 1977 when it ran into financial problems after nine years, he said.
Last year, Formation processed about 100,000 pounds of sheet made from various commodity and engineering resins.
Jay Visual makes $2.1 million move
ELKHORN, WIS. - Jay Visual Packaging Inc. is moving to a larger plant to accommodate growth in thermoforming.
Jay will relocate in April from Lyons, Wis., 10 miles west to Elkhorn, said General Manager Dave Reed. Cost of building the plant and relocating will run about $2.1 million, Reed estimates. Jeffrey Jacobsen, the firm's president, chief executive officer and owner, will own the building and lease it to Jay. The 36,000-square-foot facility will double Jay's space.
Jay is primarily a packaging thermoformer for a variety of retail markets. About a fifth of its sales are geared to industrial applications such as automotive and electrical products. It processed about 2.5 million pounds of purchased sheet last year, mainly PET, glycol-modified PET and vinyl rolls.
Reed said his company has no plan to add thermoforming capacity immediately, but expects to do so in the medium term. It now runs six lines and employs 35.
Company sales last year were about $5.8 million, a 34 percent drop from the previous year. Reed said the decrease was due to the loss of a large, undisclosed specialty project.
CBTM bets machine on economic upswing
NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. - CBTM Plastics Inc. expects economic recovery to warrant its buying a second thermoforming machine by the end of the year.
CBTM President Roy Szymanski said he sees business confidence recovering from the recession, and that will lead to more projects among his firm's customers. The company is diverse, counting recreational, transportation and industrial products among its markets.
Szymanski said CBTM forms sheet up to one-quarter-inch thick, for industrial sales. Materials processed include polyethylenes, styrenics, acrylic and glycol-modified PET.
CBTM will budget about $90,000 for a new sheet-fed thermoforming machine, Szymanski said in a telephone interview.
Szymanski established CBTM nearly five years ago. He and his wife, Mary Jane, are majority owners. The North Manchester company has six employees and reported 2001 sales of $320,000.
Firm looks to build packaging business
MEMPHIS, TENN. - The former owner of a plastics packaging company has started a new firm, looking for acquisition opportunities to build a new packaging business.
Donald McCann, former owner of Memphis-based Elm Packaging Co. LP, has started DCM Acquisition Co. to seek a maker of flexible or rigid packaging. McCann has partnered with Chicago-based investment firm Prospect Partners LLC to examine opportunities.
``I'm looking to put together a sizable company,'' McCann said. ``I'm not the retiring type, and I'm just hoping to get back into operations.''
Memphis-based DCM is targeting a company with sales between $15 million and $100 million that makes either food-service, consumer, industrial or institutional products, he said. The company would like to buy a larger company as a springboard to add other businesses in the future, he said.
``We prefer companies with underutilized assets,'' he said. ``That sets me aside from a lot of investment bankers looking for higher returns.''
McCann was majority owner of Elm, a maker of foam polystyrene containers, before the company was sold in 1998. He previously was part of the management team of Mobil Chemical Co's plastics packaging division.