Growing Genesis to expand with facility
MISHAWAKA, IND. - Toolmaker and injection molder Genesis Molding Inc. has launched a 10,000-square-foot expansion to clear room for new business.
Genesis broke ground for a new building at its Mishawaka site to house mold-making operations, Rob Hoffman, vice president of sales and marketing, said in an Oct. 22 telephone interview. Floor space previously used by the tool shop will be set aside for new assembly lines.
``Everything is growing and we needed more space,'' he said.
The 20-year-old, privately held company has been seeking new work, and has found opportunities for value-added assembly from large auto suppliers looking for lower-cost options. Smaller companies like Genesis, with 70 employees, can offer lower labor costs along with operating efficiencies, he said.
The company also has been investing in new mold-making technologies with computer software, allowing it to offer more automated production.
Genesis currently lists annual sales of about $6.5 million.
Andersen to build wood composite plant
BAYPORT, MINN. - Andersen Corp. will build a 150,000-square-foot facility for wood composite profile extrusion in North Branch, Minn.
The window and door maker, based in Bayport, announced the move Oct. 20.
``Our intent is to break ground next week and have the facility up and running by next spring,'' said spokeswoman Maureen McDonough. ``We outgrew the space we were in.''
The firm's core business is wood, but it grew into wood composites in 1995 with extrusion lines at its headquarters production plant and one other site in White Bear Lake, Minn., about 35 miles from North Branch.
McDonough would not disclose the current number of extrusion lines or how many will be installed at the new site, which will employ 135.
Extrusion operations will cease at White Bear Lake, home of Andersen's 40,000-square-foot research facility, which has 40 employees. Andersen has been extruding at that location for about seven years, McDonough said.
MeadWestvaco cuts workers at tool shop
PITTSFIELD, MASS. - A MeadWestvaco Corp. business has laid off 13 of 24 employees of a Pittsfield mold-making shop as part of a production-process restructuring.
The workers laid off Oct. 8 at Lakewood Mold Co. received severance payments. The shop is part of the firm's AGI Polymatrix unit, which is changing the way it manufactures clamshell packaging for optical media such as digital versatile discs.
Meanwhile, AGI Polymatrix continues to ramp up production at a newly established, 198,000-square-foot plant in Elizabethtown, Ky. Production of proprietary polypropylene packaging for DVDs began in August and employed 54 as of Oct. 17, when Stamford, Conn.-based MeadWestvaco dedicated the site.
Employment at the new plant is expected to reach 100 by year's end. The facility's 11 production cells use Netstal injection molding presses that can produce as many as 500,000 DVD cases daily and, potentially, other packaging.
AGI Polymatrix and AGI Amaray, units of MeadWestvaco's consumer packaging group, also process plastics at two facilities in Corby, England, and one in Freden, Germany.
CPI opens blown film unit in Wisconsin
PLEASANT PRAIRIE, WIS. - CPI Plastics Group Ltd. has started a blown film operation in a leased facility in Pleasant Prairie.
The plant replaces a North Chicago, Ill., facility purchased last year by CPI of Mississauga, Ontario. CPI moved equipment from the former Mid-America Bag plant in Illinois and bought additional machinery for the Wisconsin film facility.
CPI spokeswoman Carolyn Morris said the Pleasant Prairie operation's 16 blown film lines now are operating at about half capacity. The firm plans to open the Wisconsin business officially Oct. 30.
Morris said the 100,000-square-foot building is expandable to 137,000 square feet. Officials did not disclose the cost of the move and new equipment purchases.
CPI also is expanding its plastic-based Eon-brand wood substitute business in Mississauga and relocating its head office in the city. In addition to Eon and blown film, the company extrudes plastic profiles for a range of industries.
