Injection molder Calico upgrading site
FORT WAYNE, IND. - Injection molder Calico Precision Molding LLC will invest more than $330,000 in facility and equipment upgrades, and plans to add employees through the next year.
The Fort Wayne-based molder will spend $169,000 on its building and $163,000 on manufacturing, research and development, logistics and information technology equipment, the company said in a May 28 news release.
It marks the second expansion for Calico in three years. In 2005, the company spent $500,000 to build a 10,000-square-foot addition to its plant. It currently employs 46, and expects to add 20 workers by the spring of 2009.
Calico has 12 presses, with clamping forces of 27-500 tons, and three rubber injection presses. The company already has started the expansion, and expects to have the work finished by the end of June. It makes a variety of functional parts for customers in the automotive, aerospace and military industries.
Nypro plant scheduled to close in fall
CLINTON, MASS. - Nypro Inc. will shut its Louisville, Ky., injection molding plant as part of an ongoing consolidation of its automotive business.
The plant, with 180 employees and 57 injection molding presses, will close by the end of September, the Clinton-based company announced in a May 29 news release.
The shutdown is linked to a continuing move to emphasize decorative interior and insert molding in Nypro's automotive business, and to phase out noncore auto business in favor of growth in health care, consumer electronics and packaging.
The Louisville plant makes ``general'' automotive parts and does some molding for the packaging industry, said Nypro spokesman Al Cotton. Since the company is transitioning to interior and insert molding for the auto industry, it made sense to end those product lines and close that site.
Packaging and other work from Louisville will be transferred to Nypro sites in Chihuahua, Mexico, and Atlanta.
IPL adding machines for new containers
SAINT DAMIEN, QUEBEC - IPL Inc. is expanding its presence in the dairy container market through a C$4.3 million (US$4.3 million) investment at its Edmundston, New Brunswick, plant.
The Saint-Damien firm will introduce a new thin-walled plastic container for foods such as dip, yogurt and sour cream. Key to the new packaging is in-mold labeling, a departure from more traditional direct-printing of containers in the market. The firm's new polypropylene containers will weigh about 10 percent less than standard injection molded containers. Another feature of the containers is taller sizes.
IPL is buying two Netstal injection presses, a 605-tonner and one with 440 tons of clamping force, to mold the containers and lids. It also is purchasing robots and new molds, which it will own. The equipment should be up and running in November. The container mold will have six cavities, while the lid mold will have 16. It will make the containers in 8, 10 and 16 ounces.
Marketing manager Annie Rodrigue said her company has been prominent in other retail packaging, but its involvement in the dairy market has been limited. The company expects the new packaging design to win it a profitable chunk of the C$200 million (US$202 million) dairy product packaging market.
IPL also does extrusion, and makes more than 400 items for packaging, materials-handling and environmental markets. It also molds technical parts for the automotive industries.
Iowa's Vantec to start molding in Neb.
WEBSTER CITY, IOWA - Custom injection molder Vantec Inc. plans to expand operations by opening a facility in Falls City, Neb., by Nov. 1.
The Webster City firm said in a news release that it will employ about 25 people when it first moves into a 40,000-square-foot facility near a major customer in the area. The company said it worked with local and state officials to find the site.
The St. Joseph News-Press of St. Joseph, Mo., said Vantec is taking over a steel building the community built 10 years ago, hoping to attract business to the city. The report said Falls City is close to a Vantec customer, a Kawaski Motors Manufacturing Corp. USA plant in Maryville, Mo. Vantec makes components for appliances and small engines.
The family-owned business employs more than 200 people in a 145,000-square-foot facility. It has 44 injection presses.