Acro-Matic Plastics Corp. and its sister company Crisci Tool & Die Inc. plan to move by the end of the summer.
The longtime plan to consolidate the custom molder and mold maker into one 110,000-square-foot facility will become a reality soon - or least that's the hope.
``It's taken us awhile. There have been a lot of false starts,'' said George Doumani, vice president of sales and engineering at Acro-Matic. The companies serve automotive, medical and industrial customers.
Doumani said the building is 90 percent complete and the office area is in its final stages. The latest delays have been caused by a shortage of structural steel and copper wire, he added.
The latest deadline for the overall move is Sept. 1.
The Crisci brothers, Peter and Jim, bought the 10 acres of land in July 2002. The project has gone through a slow process of starts and stops since then.
Meanwhile, the companies continue to operate at their current Leominster locations, a mile away in two buildings with a combined 45,000 square feet of space.
The new building will more than double that space and there is enough room to double again sometime in the future. Doumani said the building has a tunnel system for materials and electrical wiring, and has robotics and overhead cranes.
``We are changing the way we do things to make use of robotics and lean manufacturing,'' he said.
The wait is enabling Acro-Matic time to pick the right machinery to add to its stable of 22 injection molding machines, which have 44-620 tons of clamping force. Six are rotary cable units for insert molding.
The company is adding a 650-ton machine and is considering a 1,200- or 1,300-ton model as well.
