Hy-Ten acquires four all-electric Niigatas
MILFORD, N.H. - Hy-Ten Plastics Inc. this month is installing the first of four all-electric Niigata injection molding machines.
Hy-Ten is spending more than $1 million to expand, said President Rich Staples.
Staples said a 6,000-square-foot addition still is in the works, and it should be completed by the fall. When it is finished, Hy-Ten will have 33,000 square feet of space.
The first of the new machines, a Niigata with 310 tons of clamping force, is being set up as a work cell with a five-axis robot. The other all-electric machines, with clamping forces of 110, 310 and 385 tons, will be installed in September and October.
The additions will bring Hy-Ten's number of presses to 20, including five all-electrics. The new machines will be used in Hy-Ten's Class 100,000 clean room.
``We've really been focusing on the medical field - medical devices and higher-precision disposals,'' Staples said.
The private firm does not release sales figures, but Staples said Hy-Ten will show 10 percent sales growth in its fiscal year, which ends in June.
Hy-Ten, which has about 50 employees, has added two more in the past two months: Jim Liebke as senior process engineer and Kiersten Asbeck as sales manager for medical products.
Artek receives bond to buy equipment
FORT WAYNE, IND. - Artek Inc., a Fort Wayne-based ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene shapes manufacturer, has received a $2.6 million bond from the City Council to finance new equipment and a 34,700-square-foot expansion.
The new equipment includes a ram extrusion line, said Artek President Dennis Dammeyer.
Artek plans to add 10 jobs over three years. Artek employs 35 and runs 40 extrusion lines.
Artek will continue to process UHMW PE exclusively.
The additions come on the heels of Artek acquiring eight extrusion lines in June 2004. It also had a 20,000-square-foot expansion in 2000 that cost $1.29 million.
Dammeyer attributed the company's multiple expansions to an accommodating economy, but also said, ``We provide a good product that people need.''
Artek applied through the city of Fort Wayne for the bond. ``It is one of the alternate types of financing that companies can pursue in Indiana,'' said Economic Development Alliance employee Elissa McGauley.
Artek also intends to expand its product line to include more proprietary profiles. ``This will give us the additional capacity to do different profiles that we haven't done before,'' Dammeyer said.
Artek will receive a 10-year partial tax abatement on the property and a five-year abatement on the equipment. The interest on the bond will be tax exempt, said McGauley.
Artek is one of the largest plastics producers in the Fort Wayne area, only outsold by PolyHiSolidur Inc., the largest processor of UHMW PE in the world with facilitues in the United States, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
JG Summit Holdings invests in projects
BATANGAS CITY, PHILIPPINES - JG Summit Holdings Inc. is investing 585 million pesos ($10.7 million) on two packaging projects to meet demand from its sister food company Universal Robina Corp.
JG investor relations director B.J. Sebastian said the Philippine Board of Investment has approved CFC Clubhouse Properties Inc.'s plan to invest to produce PET bottles and printed flexible packaging.
JG will invest 290 million pesos ($5.4 million) in the PET bottle manufacturing project, which will use one-step blow molding equipment from Sipa Plastic Packaging Systems of Vittorio Veneto, Italy.
Work on the project started in the first quarter.
CFC also is building a 295 million peso ($5.3 million) plant to produce printed flexible packaging materials for snack foods, candies, chocolates and biscuits.
Both plants will be in Batangas City.
