Bull relocating to boost press capacity
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Custom injection molder Bull Engineered Products Inc. is moving to a bigger facility and adding production capacity.
Bull bought five injection presses from an undisclosed supplier and will add them to the two presses it now runs. Overall, the presses have clamping forces of 75-500 tons. Spokeswoman Kelly Hawkins said her firm plans to buy two more presses before the end of the year.
Bull will vacate its leased Pineville, N.C., building in early August and move to a lease-to-buy plant in nearby Charlotte, Hawkins said in a telephone interview. The new facililty, at 8,500 square feet, has more than triple the space Bull now occupies. The firm expects to more than double its workforce of four.
The company mainly molds thermoplastics and also does some rubber work, for diverse markets.
Elas Tek expands into revamped plant
SPRING GROVE, ILL. - Elas Tek Molding Inc., a Spring Grove injection molder, intends to relocate to a 24,000-square-foot facility in the same city by October.
``We already owned the building for five years, but it was leased to some other people,'' Rich Davis, vice president of operations, said in a July 20 phone interview.
The company is spending $300,000-$400,000 to refurbish the facility. Elas Tek has spent another $400,000 on two 300-ton Engel injection presses, giving the company 31 presses total.
Elas Tek employs 15 at its current 12,000-square-foot site and generated $3 million in sales last year, Davis said.
Davis listed reasons the company is expanding.
``No debt, low overhead, run lean and mean. ... Our workers wear many hats,'' he said. ``We don't have specialists. Our people can do a lot of things.''
Davis also said it is beneficial that about half of Elas Tek's business comes from the medical industry, while only 15-20 percent depends on the troubled automotive industry.
Elas Tek is a minority-owned firm. Jayne Davis is president.
TI's Hanil opening site to serve Hyundai
WARREN, MICH. - TI Automotive Ltd.'s brake and fluid-line subsidiary Hanil USA will spend $2.3 million to open a plant in Alabama to assemble plastic and steel components for Hyundai Motor Co.'s new car assembly plant in Montgomery, Ala.
Hanil will renovate a 10,000-square-foot facility in Tallassee, adding 6,500 square feet. The operation will launch with 30 employees. The components will be manufactured at other TI Automotive locations and assembled in Alabama.
Hanil's expansion comes as Warren-based TI completes its own fuel-tank blow molding operation in Lavonia, Ga., which also will supply Hyundai.
Alcoa consolidation cuts jobs in Va.
PITTSBURGH - Alcoa Inc. laid off 22 workers July 20 at a film extrusion plant in Grottoes, Va., part of a larger plan the firm recently launched to cut costs and consolidate operations.
About 272 workers remain at the facility, one of the company's larger film sites, said Alcoa spokeswoman Victoria Welch. The Grottoes site makes shrink film, food wrap and food-service packaging.
The Pittsburgh-based company said June 23 that it will lay off about 6,300 workers throughout Alcoa, about 1,500 of them in its packaging and consumer products business. The reductions are expected to save about $150 million annually before taxes.
Auto molder MPC adds new Roboshot
WALWORTH, WIS. - Walworth-based injection molder Miniature Precision Components Inc. has purchased a new, 50-ton Milacron Roboshot injection press.
MPC has bought 10 Milacron molding machines in the past year. Three were sent to its plant in Walworth that specializes in large-tonnage jobs, one to MPC's general molding facility in Walworth, and five to the plant in Prairie du Chien, Wis., with one more en route to that site. All totaled, the machines cost about $2 million, said plant manager Rich Simonson.
The company also recently purchased a 1,430-ton Demag press for its large-tonnage site.
MPC is a privately held molder specializing in automotive work. It employs more than 1,600.
