Honda to mold at Ind. assembly plant
TOKYO - Honda Motor Co. Ltd. will include injection molding in its new auto assembly plant set for construction near Greensburg, Ind.
The Tokyo-based automaker announced June 28 that it will build its 14th major facility in North America in Decatur County, Ind., about 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis. The plant will begin making four-cylinder cars by the fall of 2008, with capacity to make as many as 200,000 vehicles annually.
While Honda uses outside suppliers for most of its plastic components, it traditionally makes its own instrument panels and bumper fascia to have greater control over those high-profile parts.
The automaker did not provide any plastics processing details for the new site, but its assembly plant in East Liberty, Ohio, has two 4,400- and one 4,000-ton press, in addition to welding and assembly operations, within its plastics unit.
The company expects to employ 2,000 people and will begin hiring in a few months. Construction will begin in the fall.
Tigerpoly adding equipment at Ohio site
GROVE CITY, OHIO - Auto supplier Tigerpoly Manufacturing Inc. will invest $4.1 million in equipment for an expansion at its Grove City injection molding and blow molding facility.
The company will receive a $100,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development to help finance the work, which will add 56,000 square feet to the 130,000-square-foot site.
Tigerpoly, a subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Tigers Polymer Corp., makes under-the-hood air-induction parts, using both plastic and rubber. The expansion will create 45 jobs within the first three years, according to state officials. The company currently employs 265.
The company plans to buy cranes, air compressors, water chillers, cooling towers and testing equipment.
Cytec closing Netherlands operation
WEST PATERSON, N.J. - Cytec Industries Inc. will close a plastics additives production operation in Botlek, the Netherlands, because of tough market conditions for two, older UV stabilizers.
Cytec will move production of Cyasorb UV-5411, a benzotriazole type, from Botlek to Willow Island, W.Va. Another ultraviolet stabilizer, nickel phenylate Cyasorb UV-1084, will end at Botlek by late September, when Cytec will exit the product line. About 65 jobs in Botlek will be cut as a result of the moves.
Cytec Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David Lilley said in a news release: ``Market conditions for these two products have continued to deteriorate.''
Cytec spokeswoman Gail Petersen said stiff competition from Asian sources, higher raw material costs and decreasing demand figured in the West Paterson firm's decision. She said in an interview that her company hopes rising demand for hindered-amine type UV stabilizers in its Cyasorb THT series will more than offset declines in the older additives. Hindered amines are more efficient than older UV stabilizers in many applications.
Gage Industries founder dies at age 85
LAKE OSWEGO, ORE. - Ripley Gage, 85, founder of Gage Industries Inc., died June 25 in Lake Oswego after a battle with cancer.
Gage and his wife, Betty, started the small woodworking company in 1958 and swiftly moved into plastic thermoforming. The company expanded into sheet extrusion in 1969. The firm currently has locations in Lake Oswego, where it is based, and Tigard, Ore.
Gage served nearly 30 years on local, regional and national boards of the Society of Plastics Industry Inc., including as chairman of SPI's national board from 1992-94. He turned over management of Gage Industries to his children in 1992.
Born in Portland, Ore., Gage was a World War II veteran who enlisted in the Army Air Corps Glider Pilot program in 1942 and transferred to become a command pilot of B-17 bombers. He later served in the U.S. Air Force, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and six Air Medals.
In addition to his wife, Gage is survived by his children, Jeff and Liz, who run Gage Industries as partners.