Custom processor Blow Molded Products Inc. of Riverside, Calif., is upgrading its injection and blow molding equipment and adding staff.
For capital equipment, the firm invested $325,000 last year and plans to spend $375,000 during 2006.
The company owns nine blow molding machines - including a Cincinnati Milacron being installed in May and an Improved going into service in June. Total shot sizes range from 1 to 15 pounds.
``Our niche is complex custom industrial work,'' said Larry Harden, president, owner and 24-year industry veteran. The firm molds glycol-modified PET, elastomers and polyurethane using a Bekum continuous extrusion machine.
Blow Molded operates 12 injection molding machines with clamping forces of 35-300 tons. This year, the firm has added six Cincinnati Milacrons - including four all-electrics of 75-170 tons - and is looking to upgrade the other six presses before the end of 2006.
In 1996, Harden founded the business, which has recorded consecutive growth in every year of operation. The 2005 sales total: $7.1 million including revenue from a proprietary line of carrying cases.
The blow molding division had 2005 sales of $4.2 million, primarily in packaging, sporting goods and point-of-sale applications. The injection molding division, which includes toolmaking, had sales of $2.9 million, mostly in medical, electronics and automotive applications.
``For once, injection actually has more backlog'' than the blow molding operation, Harden said.
The firm employs 50, including six toolmakers, in a 40,000-square-foot facility and a leased, 15,000-square-foot warehouse nearby.
Blow Molded expects to boost its workforce to 57-60 by the end of the year, said Mike Bynum, national sales director.
The company said it uses eight independent sales representatives.