Trend axing Dublin site, auction delayed
CHINO, CALIF. - An auction for bankrupt electronic enclosures maker Trend Technologies Inc. has been delayed to Jan. 2 from Dec. 19. The new deadline for bids is Dec. 31.
Judge Peter J. Walsh entered the order Dec. 16 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., because a proposed purchase agreement had not been signed.
A group headed by Trend Chief Operating Officer Earl Payton was negotiating to buy most of Trend's assets, but the group may enter the auction as an independent bidder rather than a stalking-horse, said Christopher Lhulier, a Wilmington lawyer representing the company.
Chino-based Trend voluntarily filed Nov. 7 for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Meanwhile, Trend is closing its 115,000-square-foot facility in Dublin, Ireland, resulting in the loss of 121 jobs.
The decision was the result of a migration of large projects to China. The plant operated six injection presses with 200-900 tons of clamping force and about 48 metal-stamping presses.
A series of layoffs began in early December and all work will conclude in early January, the company said. About one-half of the workers are members of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union.
The closure has no impact on a Mullingar, Ireland, operation that Trend acquired in August 2000.
Intec Group opening Mexico facility
PALATINE, ILL. - At the request of a key automotive customer, Intec Group Inc. is opening a plant in Guaymas, Mexico, with manufacturing to begin in April.
The operation will start with 20 employees and nine vertical injection molding machines with clamping forces of 30-110 tons. By the end of 2003, the work force may exceed 50, and the number of presses should double, Bill Golden, president of Intec Mexico LLC, said by telephone.
No decision has been reached, he said, but there is ``a strong probability'' the firm will buy new, state-of-the-art machines, largely for insert molding of automotive switches, connectors and sensors.
``We have been successful in garnering new business,'' he said. Some of those orders require just-in-time deliveries to Mexican plants and necessitate moving some production from domestic sites in Morocco, Ind., and Palatine. The Palatine molding operation is a joint venture with Amtech International Group of Southfield, Mich.
Intec is locating in Offshore Group's Roca Fuerte industrial park in Guaymas and has retained Tucson, Ariz.-based Offshore to handle real estate, tax, labor, environmental, warehouse and distribution functions.
Palatine-based Intec Group employs 550 and projects sales of $65 million for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Those totals include joint ventures in Singapore and Tianjin, China. Intec also has minority ownership of a plant in Martignat, France.
ACT buys small control-systems maker
COLUMBUS, OHIO - Automation and Control Technology Inc. completed the purchase Dec. 16 of Advanz Measurement and Control Systems Inc. of Dayton and will relocate the business to ACT's Columbus headquarters.
Advanz's eight employees are to move by the end of January. The company, founded in 1990, manufactures control systems for continuous web applications such as film, extruded sheet, foam and vinyl. Its systems can be used to make such products as truck bedliners and shower walls.
ACT provides measurement products primarily to the tobacco and metal industries, but is using the acquisition to expand to new markets. The addition of Advanz will enable it to serve 19 target markets, including plastics, nonwoven materials, coating and converting, and rubber processing, according to ACT President Charles Totel.
ACT had 2001 sales of $11 million. It employs 62. The company was formed via a 1999 management buyout of the sensors, manufacturing and service business of a Swiss company, Asea Brown Boveri Ltd.
Nailite whittles down possible buyers
MIAMI - Nailite International Inc. owners have narrowed their sale process down to two potential buyers.
Officials would give no hint as to the identity of the bidders. President Howard Wasserman said in a Dec. 17 telephone interview that the process would be narrowed down to the last buyer by the time of the 2003 International Builders Show, which will be Jan. 21-24 in Las Vegas.
Sun Capital Partners Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., currently owns the Miami-based injection molder of siding panels.
