Duerr Tool & Die Inc. is closing its doors in Union, N.J., at the end of the month, but its assets and customer list are forming part of a new company, Custom Molders Group LLC in Branchburg, N.J.
Oliver Duerr, a managing director of Duerr along with his brother Jens, said the Union building has been sold to an undisclosed buyer and its 83 workers have been notified of an impending layoff.
He said the new company actually will be the result of a merger with Custom Molders Corp., also of Branchburg.
``All the customers have been notified and it's been a smooth process. All [the customers] are coming over with us and want to continue business,'' Duerr said.
Closing Union was the result of several factors, including rising resin costs and customers moving work to China and Texas. Selling the plant was a difficult decision to make, but the company needs to change, and the firm is working with state officials to find programs to help workers deal with the layoffs, he said.
The Duerr company was founded in 1966 by brothers Carl and Walter Duerr as a machine shop, but grew to include mold making as well as injection molding. It is a second-generation company.
In May 2000, Duerr consolidated four plants from Kenilworth, N.J., and moved to the 125,000-square-foot facility in Union. At that time, it had 33 presses as well as closed-loop materials-handling and water systems.
``We've been in Union only six years. We built the plant in 2000 and moved from Kenilworth. We had great hopes,'' Duerr said.
Duerr Tool & Die has a sister plant, 3GM Plastics in McAllen, Texas, that was set up to satisfy one customer, and that operation continues to grow. That facility injection molds imaging supplies.