Parmelee consolidating into HQ plant
LENEXA, KAN. — Parmelee Industries Inc. is closing its Windsor, Mo., site and moving production to its Lenexa headquarters plant.
The move includes an undetermined number of injection molding machines the company uses to make its safety products, such as nonprescription protective eyewear, face shields, goggles and respirators.
``It's to be more competitive,'' said J.P. Sankpill, Parmelee president and chief executive officer, in a telephone interview. Parmelee will benefit from reduced overhead and production costs, he explained. Also to cut costs, Parmelee is implementing a lean program, cutting down on the number of stock-keeping units and sourcing some products from offshore.
The Sept. 30 closing in Windsor will affect 47 employees. The Lenexa site will hire about 25 to handle the extra molding and assembly work after the move.
Sankpill said his company, doing business as U.S. Safety, also does custom injection molding for original equipment manufacturers. Most of its custom work relates to its experience in optical-quality molding.
U.S. Safety also runs a full-scale laboratory in Lenexa that makes prescription safety eyewear.
Parmelee, established in 1935, employs about 175 in Lenexa, Windsor and Birmingham, England.
Southco moves injection molding to Pa.
CONCORDVILLE, PA. — Southco Inc. has finished moving its injection molding into a 135,000-square-foot manufacturing campus in Concordville, which the company called part of its commitment to manufacturing in North America.
Southco moved presses, equipment and 60 jobs from Bridgeport, N.J., to consolidate its production in Concordville, which also is its global headquarters. The new injection molding and rapid prototyping ``center of excellence'' is part of the company's ``proactive restructuring plan to rebalance our operations around the globe, while maintaining our roots in Pennsylvania,'' said Brian McNeill, Southco president and chief executive officer, in a July 8 news release.
The company noted that it spent ``several million dollars'' to establish the Concordville facility.
Southco molds latches, hinges, handles and other fasteners for a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace and medical.
Clariant nabs 2 US masterbatch suppliers
MUTTENZ, SWITZERLAND — Swiss specialty chemical supplier Clariant International Ltd. has acquired West Chicago, Ill.-based masterbatch suppliers Rite Systems Inc. and Ricon Colors Inc.
Terms of the agreement, which transferred the businesses on July 1 to Clariant Masterbatches, were not disclosed.
Founded in 1987 and with annual sales of about $50 million, Rite and Ricon employ 150. They operate from a shared West Chicago plant. In addition, Rite operates North American production facilities in Mooresville, N.C., and Chino, Calif., and has European operations in Vienna, Austria.
Rite's two-thirds share of the combined companies' portfolio comprises liquid masterbatches and Ricon supplies solid masterbatches.
Dominik von Bertrab, Clariant Masterbatches division head, said in a news release that Rite's reputation in liquid color will allow Clariant to leverage this new competence into regions where Clariant enjoys strong market positions such as Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Muttenz-based Clariant employs about 21,000 in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. Sales were 8.5 billion Swiss francs ($7 billion) in 2007.
Superior plans PU molding site in Mich.
ISHPEMING, MICH. — A Michigan businessman has purchased a 2½-acre plot of land in Ishpeming with plans to build a polyurethane molding plant at the site.
The city of Ishpeming agreed July 9 to sell the plot to Robert Airaudi's Superior Solutions, which is based in Ishpeming. The company proposes to build a urethane facility, which would employ up to 30 people, said Ishpeming City Manager Al Bakalarski.
Officials from Superior Solutions were not immediately available to discuss the company's plans.