René owner Sigma planning expansion
ST. EPHREM, QUEBEC - The new owner of René Composite Material Ltd. plans to expand the firm into new markets.
Sigma Ventures Inc. acquired René of St. Ephrem, Quebec, on June 28 for C$22 million (US$19.9 million). René's plants are in St. Ephrem, Ste. Clotilde and Tring-Jonction, Quebec, all of which will remain open, according to Sigma Chief Financial Officer Bertrand Cóté.
Cóté said in a telephone interview that Sigma will help fund expansion and more development work so René can grow into markets beyond its core of Class 8 truck components. Sigma envisions René adding consumer products, automotive, military, snow removal and light forestry to its market mix. René's main processes have been fiberglass-reinforced plastics and sheet molding compounds, but last year it began to diversify into reaction injection molded urethane and dicyclopentadiene molding.
Cóté said René could adopt pultrusion techniques for thermosets with which a sister company, Faroex Ltd., has experience. Sigma bought Faroex of Gimli, Manitoba, in March. Sigma also owns metal fabricating businesses.
René employs about 450 and has total manufacturing area of about 89,600 square feet and some 57,000 square feet of storage space. Sigma bought the company from René, Norbert Grenier and provincial investment agency SGF Industriel Inc. of Montreal. It funded the purchase through bank loans secured on René's and Sigma's assets.
Sigma of Calgary, Alberta, was established in October.
Plastic Components adds 300-ton Nissei
GERMANTOWN, WIS. - Plastic Components Inc. has installed another 300-ton Nissei injection molding machine, stepped up use of Moldflow Corp. simulation modules and gained new business.
For the six months ended June 30, sales increased 22 percent vs. the comparable 2005 period, the custom injection molder said.
The additional press is the firm's second 300-ton Nissei this year and brings the total number of presses at the Germantown plant to 40.
Plastic Components invested about $12,000 to adopt the Mold Adviser 7.3 module for simulating plastic flow through single-cavity, multiple-cavity and family molds. The firm began using the software in April.
Also, Plastic Components upgraded the Part Adviser module to version 7.3. Both products are from Moldflow of Framingham, Mass.
New customers include the faucet division of North Olmsted, Ohio-based Moen Inc.; the VDO Automotive unit of Munich, Germany-based Siemens AG; and Ark-Les Corp. of Stoughton, Mass.
France's Faurecia opens site in Poland
NANTERRE, FRANCE - Groupe Faurecia has opened a 17.4 million euro ($22 million) plant producing foam for car seats in Jelcz-Laskowice, Poland.
Nanterre-based Faurecia, Europe's second-largest maker of auto parts, will supply seat padding for cars produced at a plant in Trnava, Slovakia, by French vehicle builder PSA Peugeot Citroën.
Construction of the 119,000-square-foot Jelcz plant started in May 2005. The investment is to be completed in 2008. Initially, the facility is employing 150, but growth will increase that number to 350, the group said.
The unit is the ninth plant Faurecia has built in Poland since 1996, and the company now has a national workforce of some 3,900. The Jelcz plant is the fifth it has located in Poland's Walbrzych special economic zone, with others producing seat headrests and other seat accessories, as well as assembling seats.
Other Polish plants are located in Gorzów Wielkopolski, Legnica and Grójec.
Pipe maker JP Korris closes up operations
LA GRANGE PARK, ILL. - JP Korris Inc., a maker of plastic pipe and pipe fittings, is no longer in operation.
Callers to the company June 29 were told via a recording that ``JP Korris is no longer in business.'' The state of Illinois also listed the company as planning a shutdown on its WARN list for May. WARN stands for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires 60 days' notice if a company with 75 or more employees is planning a layoff or closing.
