Bright Plastics Inc. is being displaced from its original facility in North Carolina as an airport authority makes room for a runway.
But the change is welcome for the custom injection molder, whose owners have purchased a 67,000-square-foot building in Greensboro, N.C., less than 10 miles away. Bright will move to the site by June and add one 1,000-ton Engel press to its 18-machine stable.
The company bought the new building for $1.3 million, but the federal government will help pay for the move.
``The airport authority purchased the building we were in about three years ago, knowing they would eventually tear it down for a new runway,'' President Steve Bright said in a March 29 telephone interview. ``We will spend a couple hundred thousand [in moving expenses] and Uncle Sam will spend about $300,000 for their part.''
Bright molded its first part in 1988 in the leased space, but needed more room anyway. Its 47,000-square-foot plant was bursting at the seams, officials said.
Officials already plan to add 9,000 square feet to the new facility by fall. Bright bought the building from High Point Shades LLC, but the facility once belonged to Amp Inc., now a Tyco International Ltd. subsidiary. Amp injection molded products such as electronic connectors and switches.
Although Bright's largest market is the municipal waste container industry, Bright also serves medical and consumer markets, plus other industrial and commercial segments. Steve Bright said the firm has grown 50 percent during the past three years.
Now, the company is investigating two-shot molding and recently has grown into in-mold decorating. Officials said they have no immediate plans to add employees to the 65 head count. The firm also has automated in the past few years and has nearly eight robots on 19 machines.
``We're not predicting how long this [growth] will last,'' Bright said. ``We're riding it while we can.''
The firm is co-owned by Joe Vest, vice president of manufacturing; and Kirk Sparks, vice president of sales. Sales are $7.5 million.
