City officials say molding plant to close
TOLEDO, OHIO - Officials for Toledo Molding & Die Inc. are not commenting on media reports that the business plans to close a facility in Sycamore, Ohio, and move the operations to Tiffin, Ohio.
Village leaders in Sycamore said they were informed the Toledo-based company plans to close the 150-employee factory by the summer of 2003 and shift the equipment and jobs to Tiffin. Economic development officials in Tiffin noted they were working with Toledo Molding as a potential occupant for a 28-acre site there.
The deal is not complete, Rich Focht, director of Seneca Industrial and Economic Development Corp. said in an Oct. 22 story in the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune newspaper. The company and local officials wanted to lay the groundwork so Toledo Molding could move quickly once a decision was made.
The Sycamore plant, built in 1978, produces heating and air-conditioning ducts, defroster nozzles, insert molded headlight gaskets and other automotive components, according to information posted on Toledo Molding's Web site. The company also has manufacturing operations in Toledo and three other Ohio communities: Carey, Delphos and Bowling Green.
Millet adding blow molding machines
LEBANON, PA. - Millet Plastics Inc. is spending about $1 million to expand blow molding capacity at its relatively new Lebanon operation.
Millet opened the facility in October 2001 after spending $1.8 million on three blow molding machines and related equipment, including two Uniloy Milacron machines with shot capacity of 13 pounds. The new equipment on order for January installation includes an 18-pounder, according to Millet plant manager Warren Wohlfahrt. He said he does not expect Millet to need space beyond its current 45,000 square feet for a few more years.
The company originally set up to supply high-end housewares producer Grosfillex Inc. of Robesonia, Pa., with specialty flower pots and shelving. Millet needs the extra machinery for growing business with Grosfillex and to allow it to seek new accounts in gardening products, medical and appliance markets, Wohlfahrt said in a telephone interview.
Millet is a subsidiary of French blow molder and injection molder Millet Marius SA. The 45-year-old Lyon, France, company has six plants in France and does about $40 million in annual sales. The Lebanon facility employs about 25 while Millet in total has about 300 workers.
Taylor's to buy HPM building in Ohio
MOUNT GILEAD, OHIO - Taylor's Industrial Services LLC, which last year bought some of HPM Corp.'s assets, has agreed to buy HPM's 200,000-square-foot machinery factory in Mount Gilead from a bankruptcy trustee, according to Taylor's top executive Christopher Filos.
Taylor's bought the assets of HPM just before HPM filed for Chapter 7 liquidation Aug. 1, 2001. The assets did not include the main factory, which remained under control of court-appointed bankruptcy trustee Sara Daneman. The main building is known as Plant 2.
Filos said he and Daneman met in late October and agreed upon a sale price, which Filos declined to reveal. The judge could approve the sale 20 days after the trustee files the necessary papers, said Filos, president and chief executive officer.
Daneman, a lawyer in Gahanna, Ohio, did not return telephone calls.
Filos said Taylor's also agreed to buy an older, smaller HPM plant known as Plant 1, but reserved the right to pass on that purchase if environmental problems are found on the site.
The building sale means that creditors, left with nothing when HPM folded, may be about to get some money. On Oct. 24 the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Columbus mailed creditors a notice saying they had until Jan. 21 to file claims.
Farrel buying Skinner's mixer assets
ANSONIA, CONN. - Extruder and mixer maker Farrel Corp. is buying the polymer mixer business from bankrupt Skinner Engine Co. Inc. of Erie, Pa.
Farrel is paying $650,000 for the batch mixer assets, said a spokesman for Farrel, based in Ansonia.
Skinner filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in April 2001. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Erie has approved the purchase, and Farrel expects the deal to be complete by Nov. 15.
Skinner mixers can be used to process plastics or rubber. Farrel will obtain the Skinner Interflow and Skinner Co-Flow technology. The deal also gives Farrel the engineering, technical data and customer files to service Skinner machines, according to Rolf Liebergesell, Farrel's chairman, chief executive officer and president.
Farrel said it outbid three competitors to buy the Skinner line.
