Al-Be Industries Inc. has moved to a new Southern California location, and contracted with sales agency Jeda Equipment Services Inc. for representation in the East.
Al-Be acquired an 8,000-square-foot building on roughly one-third of an acre in Fullerton, Calif., for about $1 million, said Al-Be President Donald Shaw, in a telephone interview.
The firm upgraded the quarters and, on Oct. 1, relocated about 13 miles from a 10,000-square-foot leased site in Paramount that it had occupied for about 40 years.
``We eliminated some antiquated machines,'' including five Bridgeport mills, and found ways to make better use of space, Shaw said.
Al-Be purchased two Trak-brand computer numerically controlled machines- one mill and one lathe - from Southwestern Industries Inc. of Rancho Dominguez, Calif., in 2005 and 2006.
Effective Oct. 1, Indianapolis-based Jeda began collaborating in helping Al-Be expand sales and service for its horizontal and bench-mount laboratory extruders, downstream lines and customized extrusion cutting equipment in the eastern U.S.
In addition, Jeda, headed by Dave Cortner, represents plastics and rubber industry manufacturers of size-reduction equipment, pressure coolers and controllers, material-handling systems, screw tips and barrel blankets.
Al-Be is considering other sales and service representation in the West.
Family owned and operated, Al-Be employs 14 and had sales of $1.2 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.
Ken Shaw handles engineering and design tasks, and Doug Shaw is shop supervisor. Donald, Ken and Doug are brothers. Their father, Donald Shaw Sr., began working at the business in 1962, acquired it in 1977 and stepped down from full-time duties in 1994.