Compounder Omni Plastics LLC of Evansville has added 100,000 square feet of manufacturing space and installed its third twin-screw extrusion line.
The 6-year-old firm plans to use the new line for glass-reinforced and dual-mineral compounds, including glass and mineral combinations, officials said.
Omni spent more than $1 million on the new machine and on expanding into a larger portion of the 330,000-square-foot building where it is located. With the third line, Omni now has 36 million pounds of annual compounding capacity.
Omni's main products are glass-fiber-reinforced compounds based on nylon, polypropylene and polycarbonate. Nylon and PP compounds account for about 75 percent of Omni's output, according to sales and marketing Vice President Mark Thomas.
Primary end markets for the firm's compounds are automotive, appliance and consumer durables.
Growth in those sectors allowed Omni to post 30 percent sales growth in 2004, and the firm is on pace to match that in 2005, Thomas said. The privately owned company doesn't release sales totals.
Thomas described Omni's sales base as ``fairly regional'' to the Midwest.
The firm employs 23 and expects to add two employees by the end of the year.