West Pharmaceutical plans China plant
LIONVILLE, PA. - Medical components maker West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. plans to build an injection molding plant in China by 2009.
Initially, the plant will be dedicated to making comolded infusion bottle closures specifically for the market in China, the company said in a Sept. 27 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
West is finalizing a deal to acquire land for the facility. A spokeswoman said it will be near Shanghai.
The Lionville-based company also has entered a joint venture with a local medical rubber maker to open a plant by 2011. Both plants combined will cost about $80 million, West said.
Currently, West does not have any plants in China.
ExxonMobil to build compounding site
HOUSTON - ExxonMobil Chemical Co. will spend $20 million to open a compounding plant at its site in Baton Rouge, La.
Construction of the plant will begin in October, with commercial production beginning in the second quarter of 2007. Compounds made at the new plant will be based on polypropylene, as well as on the firm's Santoprene-brand thermoplastic vulcanizates and other specialty elastomers, officials with Houston-based ExxonMobil said in a Sept. 19 news release.
Baton Rouge plant manager Dave Luecke told the Baton Rouge Advocate that ExxonMobil will invest $20 million in the plant, and will create 55 new jobs. Information on the number of compounding lines or annual production capacity was unavailable.
ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge plastics and chemicals complex also makes polyethylene, polypropylene and a variety of specialty plastics.
Visteon facility closing to cut 290 jobs
DETROIT - Auto supplier Visteon Corp. will close its Chicago facility next year, cutting 290 jobs as part of a restructuring.
Automotive Components Holdings LLC, which is made up of former Visteon operations and controlled by former Visteon parent Ford Motor Co., will take over the contracts for the work supplying Ford cars made in Chicago.
Dearborn, Mich.-based ACH will make the parts using existing capacity at current plants, blow molding fuel tanks in Milan, Mich., and injection molding cockpits and interior trim in Utica, Mich., a spokeswoman said.
Visteon told Illinois officials it will eliminate half of its workforce in Chicago by February, with the rest cut by June 2007 when the plant closes.
Visteon executives told analysts Sept. 26 that they expected an ongoing slowdown in car production by its customers will result in 10 percent less revenue in the second half of 2006 compared to the first six months of the year. The company, based in the Detroit suburb of VanBuren Township, will discuss details of a three-year restructuring plan in late October.
Tenn. auto supplier C&S doubles space
FAYETTEVILLE, TENN. - C&S Plastics LLC, a Tier 2 automotive supplier, announced Sept. 22 the completion of a 40,000-square-foot addition that doubles the size of its plant.
The company makes interior hard-trim automotive products. In 2005, it listed sales of more than $8 million.
``We are excited about the level of growth we are experiencing in Fayetteville and the quality of workers we have been able to attract,'' Ed Carter, vice president of product development for C&S Plastics, said in a news release. ``The state and local governments have been valuable partners in helping us grow and creating a solid business climate.''
The company worked with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and Fayetteville city officials.
C&S started operating in 2003 with 15 employees and now employs 93. It plans to add as many as 35 jobs in the next six to nine months, and will add new machinery to meet demand. It has presses with clamping forces of 190-720 tons.
Its customers include M-Tek Inc., CalsonicKansei North America Inc., TS-Tech North America Inc. and Suzuki Motor Corp. It supplies Japanese and American automotive companies.