Texler's Tecco returns to form Fortec
MACEDONIA, OHIO - Bill Tecco was born to mold.
Texler Inc., which he founded in 1978, recently closed its doors in Macedonia. When the custom injection molding operation was auctioned off April 24, Tecco was in the audience and picked up 16 Van Dorn presses.
Now, under a new company - Fortec Molding LLC - he is leasing 20,000 square feet of space in his plant from Texler, which exists as a name but does not do any manufacturing. Texler is selling the building, and the Texler name will disappear once the building is sold, he said.
Fortec employs 20 people molding parts for industrial, automotive, consumer and pharmaceutical markets. Some of the people have worked for Tecco for 20-plus years, he said.
In an April 15 Plastics News story, Tecco said Texler was done in by customers moving work out of the United States, and by small, quick-footed molders that came in and snatched some molding jobs away from the larger, established Texler.
Why jump back into the molding wars?
``It's the only thing I know, is injection molding. We tried to market the business [for sale] and nobody was interested,'' he said.
Now Tecco wants to be one of those small, fast guys.
``You have to be very competitive. Where before we had a lot more overhead, this is a very low-overhead'' operation, he said.
Ring Can reforms as Ring Container
OAKLAND, TENN. - Ring Can Corp. plans to change its name to Ring Container Technologies to better reflect its plastic-based line of products.
The change, taking effect July 1, emphasizes the company's focus on blow molded plastic containers at its 18 plants in the United States and England, said spokeswoman Barbara Borowski.
``It does better reflect the direction of the company,'' Borowski said. ``We started the company by producing metal cans but we no longer make them. For quite a while, we've mainly made containers in plastic, and our name now will reflect that.''
Oakland-based Ring makes PET, PVC and high density polyethylene containers for the food and agricultural industries and is branching more into retail sectors, Borowski said.
BSI winding up $200,000 expansion
ROCKLEDGE, FLA. - Barrel & Screw International Corp. expects to complete a plant and equipment expansion by mid-June.
The Rockledge firm is spending more than $200,000 to buy equipment and double its plant size to about 11,000 square feet. BSI recently bought a reconditioned, computer numerically controlled lathe; gun drill; and vertical and horizontal machining presses. It also hopes to add another milling machine by the end of the year, plant manager George Essery said in a telephone interview.
BSI's sales are growing internationally, particularly in Latin America, where it recently hired Margarita Muniz as sales and marketing manager. Essery said the company will exhibit at the Plastimagen plastics trade show in Mexico City in early September to bolster business in Mexico and Central America.
The company also intends to expand its business in screws for injection molding presses and wants to buy and sell injection presses to diversify. Its growth could lead to doubling of employment to 10 by the end of the year, he said.
Bob Essery, George's brother, founded the firm in early 1991.
Glycon, Xaloy sell each other's wares
TECUMSEH, MICH. - Screw-industry competitors Glycon Corp. and Xaloy Inc. are cooperating to sell each other's products under a marketing agreement announced May 6.
Glycon does not make barrels. Xaloy makes both screws and barrels. Tecumseh-based Glycon will sell bimetallic barrels made by Xaloy of Pulaski, Va. Xaloy will distribute Glycon screws, including the new DM2 for low-shear mixing and melting. The companies will work together on sales and marketing of Glycon screws.
Glycon President Jeffrey Kuhman said customers increasingly want to buy all their plasticating components from a single supplier.
