Encore Industries relocating HQ in '06
BELLEVUE, OHIO - Encore Industries Inc. will relocate its headquarters from Bellevue to Sandusky, Ohio, the firm announced in mid-December.
Encore said it began construction on the 12,000-square-foot facility in early October and expects to occupy the new building in the second quarter of 2006.
The new operation will include 3,000 square feet of warehousing, an employee fitness center and model showroom. Encore Chief Executive Officer Timothy Rathbun said the head office's architecture will blend well with the area's parks, lakes and recreational areas. It is being built in the Quarry Lakes Business Park.
Ohio's Department of Economic Development and the Erie County Office of Economic Development are assisting with the project.
Encore is a major paint sundries and related hardware manufacturer.
Other key markets are disposable medical supplies and air conditioner covers. Its processes include injection molding, custom and captive thermoforming and sheet extrusion.
Klöckner expanding its reach in Asia
MONTABAUR, GERMANY - Klöckner Pentaplast Group will open new sales offices in Asia and expand its specialty film production capacity in the region.
New offices are scheduled in January for Gurgaon, India, and Shanghai, China, Klockner said. In February a sales office will debut in Melbourne, Australia, to serve that country and New Zealand.
``The Asian-Pacific Rim region represents an important market area for the Klöckner Pentaplast Group,'' said Joachim Kreuzburg, president and chief operating officer for the group's European and Asian markets.
Klöckner is investing $8 million to expand PVC calendering capacity at its Rayong, Thailand, plant. By mid-2006 the firm expects to be operating an additional 16 million pounds per year of PVC film capacity. The project includes adding 11,800 square feet to the plant and boosting employment by 19 at the operation, which now employs 134. The extra production will go to pharmaceutical, food and static-control markets.
The Rayong plant also makes polyester and barrier films, according to Klöckner spokeswoman Nancy Ryan.
Ryan said Klöckner has supplied Asian markets from the Rayong operation as well from plants in the United States and Europe. Klöckner, based in Montabaur, has 24 production facilities in 13 countries and annual sales of more than $1.3 billion.
Expanding Dutchland to boost workforce
OOSTBURG, WIS. - Oostburg-based Dutchland Plastics Corp. boosted its production capacity by about 40 percent and plans to increase its workforce in early 2006, after adding three new blow molding machines in November.
In addition to its 78,000-square-foot blow molding facility in Oostburg, Dutchland operates a 145,000-square-foot rotomolding plant there. The company employs about 225.
The firm manufactures an array of products ranging from industrial, medical and playground equipment, to toys, furniture and ice machine hoppers. It processes a variety of resins that include polyethylene, polypropylene, ABS, vinyl and nylon.
The expansion gives Dutchland eight blow molding lines, in addition to its 10 rotomolding machines.
Carl Claerbout, who co-owns Dutchland with his brother Daven, declined to disclose the cost of the three new blow molders.
He said the investment is part of Dutchland's strategy to stay ahead of demand.
``If you wait to buy a machine until you get the business, you're behind from the get-go,'' Carl Claerbout said.
Dutchland officials are optimistic about 2006, expecting sales growth of 10-20 percent.
Polyglass plans Fla. manufacturing site
FERNLEY, NEV. - Fernley-based Polyglass USA Inc. plans to open a manufacturing facility in Winter Haven, Fla., adding a third location to the portfolio of the privately held roofing material company.
Polyglass is investing between $10 million and $15 million to convert an ArrMaz Custom Chemicals Inc. plant. The facility will house the company's fourth manufacturing line, though the plant will be set up to have an additional line in the future. The new plant will increase Polyglass' North American employment by 60-80 people. Polyglass USA employs about 150 now. The Winter Haven plant is scheduled to be fully operational by early 2007.
In addition to the facility near Reno, Polyglass runs a plant in Hazleton, Pa.
Polyglass makes underlayments for residential roofs and outer-layer, finished membranes for flat-roofed commercial buildings. Greg Perkins, Polyglass' vice president of business development, said one source of the company's polymers is recycled plastic soda bottles.
``We're very proud of the fact that we buy, and are utilizing, recycled pop bottles,'' Perkins said.
Perkins touts Polyglass as a world leader in self-adhering roofing membranes for high-density buildings, like schools, offices and hospitals. Before the advent of self-adhering technology, he said, buildings would have to be evacuated while the roof was being repaired or replaced. Now it goes on virtually unnoticed, he said.
Polyglass USA's parent company, Polyglass SpA, is based in Gradisca d'Isonzo, Italy.
Amcor tube assets bought by investors
GRANBY, QUEBEC - An investor group has bought the plastic tube manufacturing assets of Amcor PET Packaging Canada Inc.
CAI Capital Partners and some managers of the business paid an undisclosed price for the assets, effective Nov. 21. The Granby business now is called Plastube North America.
Plastube marketing manager Jennifer Hackett said the company employs more than 200. Its production equipment includes extrusion lines and printing machines to make tubes mainly for personal-care products, such as hair-care formulations and creams.
Amcor sold the business because it was not strategic. About a year ago Amcor sold part of a sister operation in Allentown, Pa., to Silgan Holdings Inc. of Stamford, Conn. It relocated the rest of the Allentown equipment to Granby, Hackett said in a telephone interview. Amcor has no other plastic tube manufacturing in its global group of companies, according to Hackett.
Hackett said Plastube hopes to expand its extrusion capacity in mid-2006. It especially wants to invest in high-barrier tubes, called Polyfoil, that have an inner polyethylene layer, an aluminum foil middle layer and an overextruded polyolefin outer layer. Plastube is licensing the technology from Hoffmann Neopac AG of Oberdiessbach, Switzerland, as did its predecessor company under Amcor ownership.
Private equity firm CAI has majority ownership in Plastube, but CAI Managing Director Tim Patterson would not divulge the exact stake. The company represents the only plastics investment so far for Toronto-based CAI.
Paul Goodman continues with Plastube as president and chief executive officer.
Alcoa nabs ownership of Closure Systems JV
PITTSBURGH - Alcoa Inc. of Pittsburgh now owns 100 percent of its Closure Systems International Co. Ltd. joint venture, based in Tianjin, China.
Alcoa formed the venture in 1994 with China Suntrust Investment Group Co. Ltd. to make plastic closures. China Suntrust owned a 30 percent share, according to an Alcoa news release.
An Alcoa spokesman did not return a call seeking comment before deadline.
Alcoa has 13 wholly owned and joint venture companies in China, with plants making automotive and construction products, foil, fasteners, decorative sheet and plastic closures.