Gould LLC is changing from captive to custom thermoforming and has taken a new name after selling its core line of office-display products.
The Duluth, Ga.-based company changed its name to ThermoPro Inc. The company sold its line of thermoformed display racks Jan. 26 to New Hope, Minn.-based office products maker Safco Products Co., said Danny Robinson, chief operating officer of ThermoPro. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, includes the Gould name.
ThermoPro plans to add a new pressure former and a five-axis trim cell and router as it makes the shift to heavy-gauge custom thermoforming, he said.
``Even before the deal was made, we made the decision to go in a different direction with custom thermoforming,'' said Robinson, who bought one-third of ThermoPro after the Safco sale.
The firm had produced the Gould line of plastic magazine and pamphlet racks for 29 years, Robinson said. After originally outsourcing manufacturing, the firm opted to thermoform its own freestanding and wall-mounted display items in the 1990s, Robinson said.
The company decided that its office products line had peaked and that it would take a larger firm with more marketing power to keep it moving forward, he said.
The newly reconfigured ThermoPro has two thermoforming lines and several computer numerically controlled routers, Robinson said. ThermoPro will invest about $500,000 in added equipment and is evaluating several suppliers, he said. The company hopes to have the new equipment installed within 12-15 weeks, he added.
The 38-person company will continue to thermoform publication racks for Safco and will start looking for new supplementary business, he said.
The company's other owners include Chief Executive Officer and President David Gould and Vice President Michael Gould.