Plastipak opening Calif. bottle plant
PLYMOUTH, MICH. - Expanding westward, bottle producer Plastipak Packaging Inc. of Plymouth will open a 180,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Modesto, Calif., by January.
Plastipak officials did not return calls seeking comment.
Doug Sweetland, economic development director for the Stanilaus (County) Economic Development and Workforce Alliance in Newman, Calif., confirmed the plans in an Oct. 12 telephone interview.
Plastipak will employ 50 initially, Sweetland said. The plant will be equipped with blow molding, injection molding and bottling capabilities.
The existing facility is located in the Beard Industrial District, which falls into the state of California Enterprise Zone. That makes the company eligible for sales or use tax credit for new equipment. The company also is eligible for tax credits for hiring qualified employees, at $31,000 per employee over five years.
The firm reported $1.2 billion in blow molding sales for 2005.
Mauser shuts W.Va. blow molding site
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. - Mauser North America has shuttered its industrial drum blow molding plant in Nitro, W.Va.
The Bridgewater-based unit of Mauser-Werke of Bruhl, Germany, told workers Oct. 9 that the Nitro plant was being closed immediately, according to Ralph Winter, secretary and treasurer of Teamsters Local 175 in South Charleston, W.Va.
``They gave no warning to employees that this facility was closing,'' Winter said in an Oct. 12 telephone interview. ``All the employees knew was that there was a meeting on Monday [Oct. 9].''
The facility has been in operation roughly 14 years, Winter said. It employed about 35, including 24 union members.
``This location has been profitable to the company,'' he said, noting that the union had entered into a new collective bargaining agreement that became effective June 1. ``We're going to be bargaining over the effects of the closure,'' he said.
Winter said the production capacity will be consolidated into sites in Charlotte, N.C., and Mount Vernon, Ohio.
South Korea supplier opening Ala. plant
DADEVILLE, ALA. - South Korean auto supplier KwangSung Co. Ltd. is moving into North America, with a new plant in Alabama to make parts for automakers Kia Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co.
KwangSung, based in Dangjin, will have blow molding and injection molding in Dadeville when full production begins next year, said Don McClellan, executive director for the Lake Martin Area Economic Development Alliance in Alexander City, Ala.
The operation will get a jump-start in early November when a temporary plant in Dadeville begins assembling parts molded at KwangSung facilities in South Korea and China, according to McClellan.
The new building, with molding operations, should be completed within a year and employ 150.
KwangSung manufactures under-the-hood hoses and ducts and sun visors.
Eaton merging two acquired facilities
CLEVELAND - Eaton Corp. announced that it is consolidating two Ohio plants in the hydraulics thermoplastic hose business that it acquired in April from Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, and is moving some jobs from those sites to Mexico.
Most hose extrusion and reinforcement work from the Mantua, Ohio, plant will be relocated to its facility in Aurora. Mantua's assembly work and remaining extrusion lines will move to an Eaton plant in Reynosa, Mexico. The harness, hydraulic and coil air assembly operations at the Aurora unit also will move to Reynosa.
Cleveland-based Eaton plans to close the Mantua factory, which employs 193, by the end of 2007.
The Aurora facility employs 161, and 52 of those jobs will move to Reynosa. However, 115 positions will transfer to Aurora from Mantua, the company said.
Eaton's William VanArsdale, vice president and president of hydraulics operations, said the consolidation of the Mantua and Aurora sites was needed to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
The company said it will offer a voluntary separation package to Mantua and Aurora employees before the cuts are made.
