Color concentrates maker F&D Plastics Inc. has added multiple pieces of equipment in the past 18 months and plans to add its sixth twin-screw extrusion line later this year.
The Leominster, Mass.-based firm also is contemplating an addition to its 5-year-old, 27,000-square-foot building and is looking into adding a second manufacturing site in the South, owner Roger Rosbury said in a March 9 phone interview.
``We've seen a general overall sales push in wire and cable, housewares and cosmetics,'' he said. ``It really hasn't been one market over another.''
Those three markets make up a majority of F&D's annual sales, which totaled $9 million in 2003. The firm also does some automotive work. The 2003 sales total represented a 15 percent jump from 2002, and the 44-employee company expects to hit the $10 million mark in 2004, Rosbury said.
Most of F&D's product mix consists of color concentrates based on polyolefins. The firm also uses a variety of other commodity and engineering resins. About 90 percent of F&D's sales are in the Northeast and Midwest.
Rosbury founded F&D as a grinding firm in 1967, branching off into concentrates production in 1993. Prior to launching F&D, he had worked as a tool and die maker.
Since mid-2002, F&D also has added three resin silos, three mixers and a freightliner truck used for deliveries within a 40-mile radius of the site. Rosbury estimated that he's invested $1.2 million in the business since 1999.
``We're doing everything we can to stay competitive,'' Rosbury said. ``That includes better customer service and doing more with less.''
