Tubing extruder Teel Plastics Inc. is spending more than $10 million on a new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Baraboo, Wis., that the company said will boost production capacity, consolidate manufacturing operations and provide more research space.
Chairman Jay Smith said the firm has seen sales grow from $24 million in 2001 to $35 million this year, and was running out of space at four scattered Baraboo plants.
The company plans to break ground on the 250,000-square-foot facility soon and complete construction this year.
Medical products are the largest piece of the company's business, and the firm expanded its capabilities by adding a Class 100,000 clean room to its medical facility in August, said Jenny Hovde, medical products division director.
Hovde spoke during an interview at the Medical Design and Manufacturing West show, held Jan. 10-12 in Anaheim.
Some customers have outsourced tube manufacturing and assembly operations to Teel, and the company anticipates more such work, Smith said by telephone Jan. 11 from Baraboo. He declined to provide specifics about the privately held company's manufacturing capacity, but said it will add more extrusion lines. Beyond medical, the firm serves automotive, industrial and converting markets.
Teel is meeting its goals of growing 20 percent a year, Smith said, in part because it is putting resources into research.
Several years ago, the firm put up a small facility for research and manufacturing of plastic/natural-fiber composites, and is making progress in developing those materials, he said.
The company has grown in sales while reducing its workforce from about 260 in 2001, to 235 now. Smith said Teel has tried to streamline manufacturing operations and its current mix of products is less labor-intensive.
Beyond tubing extrusion and plastic-fiber composites, the firm does pultrusion, compounding and specialty packaging for laboratory testing equipment.
Teel is putting the new facility on 80 acres at the edge of Baraboo. It will close down about 50,000 square feet of space, giving it a net gain of 200,000 square feet.
Smith also is chairman of JLS Investment Group in Madison, Wis., which bought Teel in 1999. He is a former chief executive officer at DRG Medical Packaging, which later became part of packager Rexam.