Nypro closing Wrexham, Wales, plant
CLINTON, MASS. - Nypro Inc. will shutter its Wrexham plant by June 1, laying off 35 workers.
``The Wrexham plant has long been our smallest plant, with 35 workers. ... It doesn't fit our strategic goals, so we decided in conjunction with the employees to begin the process of shutting it down,'' said Al Cotton, spokesman for the Clinton-based custom injection molder.
Workers are eligible for severance packages, and the company is posting openings for those considering a move to other facilities in Europe.
Orders will be routed to other Nypro facilities.
``We're still in Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland and Russia. They're all growing. As a company, we will be reporting our first $1 billion year in June. With over 15,000 [employees], our strategy is still to work with the world's biggest customers,'' Cotton said.
Nypro UK Ltd. has been cutting back the Wrexham operation since July 2004. At that time, 20 jobs were eliminated and the workforce trimmed to 60.
Ayanna plans to add tooling equipment
CLEARWATER, FLA. - With a major expansion under its belt, custom injection molder Ayanna Plastics & Engineering Inc. may add more toolroom machinery.
Ayanna spent about $1.2 million to consolidate two tool shops and a molding operation and to buy four new injection presses, owner and President Daniel Redmond Jr. said in a telephone interview. The program included buying a 12,000-square-foot building in Clearwater, where early this year the company relocated its tool and molding shops from Largo, Fla.
Redmond said the consolidation improved efficiency. The new plant integrates tool building and molding in a 10,500-square-foot area. The previous shops totaled 7,000 square feet of space.
Redmond said he plans to add another high-speed computer numerically controlled machine to increase mold production and keep lead times down.
Ayanna added two Toshiba electric presses with clamping forces of 65 and 110 tons and two Toshiba hydraulic presses with clamps of 150 and 250 tons. The company now operates nine presses, of 50-250 tons. The custom molder counts medical, promotional, electronic and marine markets among its most important areas.
Ameriform buys rotomolding machines
MUSKEGON, MICH. - Ameriform Inc. of Muskegon is in expansion mode.
The company has invested nearly $1 million to add two rotational molding machines and a vacuum forming machine as it gears up to serve growing markets.
Ameriform will be handling boat production for Johnson Outdoors Inc.'s Leisure Life Division. It also will handle increased production demands from its own subsidiaries, including Five Peaks Technology, which makes portable sanitation products, and KL Industries Inc., which makes outdoor products for boating, hunting and fishing.
The firm has added nearly 40 employees, bringing its total employment close to 300, President Daniel Harris said in an April 21 telephone interview.
By the end of the year, officials plan to add an extruder to the facility that will be dedicated to production for Extrusion Technologies Inc., its sheet extrusion division, he said.
Conrad Bessemer looking at Novatec
BALTIMORE - Former Conair Group Inc. executive Conrad Bessemer is in talks with officials of Novatec Inc. to buy the Baltimore-based maker of dryers, blenders and conveying equipment, according to sources in the auxiliary equipment industry.
Bessemer resigned from Conair, the Pittsburgh-based auxiliary maker, on Feb. 20, ending a 19-year career in Conair management. He was president of Conair North America.
Bessemer is looking at buying Novatec and is working with unidentified investors, the sources said. Novatec is owned by about 50 shareholders, including some Novatec employees.
Bessemer had no comment when contacted April 28. Novatec President Jack Doub also declined to comment.
