Equipment will help Nampac create jobs
RALEIGH, N.C. — A plastic buckets and lids plant in Valparaiso, Ind., will be getting new equipment, thanks in part to a local tax abatement.
The Post-Tribune of northwest Indiana reported July 15 the Valparaiso City Council granted a seven-year, $2.79 million abatement to Nampac Inc. for equipment. The addition is expected to create 31 jobs.
Plant manager Jeff Nicolette told the paper the capacity expansion will make Valparaiso the largest open-head container injection molding plant in the world, and the largest producer of plastic pails.
Raleigh-based Nampac is a division of Atlanta-based rigid metal and plastic containers maker Bway Corp. Neither firm would comment for this story.
Indesit shifting work from U.K. to Poland
FABRIANO, ITALY — Indesit Co. will close its refrigerator plant in Peterborough, England, by October, cutting about 420 jobs and transferring a major slice of its United Kingdom work to a site in Lodz, Poland.
The Fabriano-based firm, Europe's second-largest appliance producer in terms of market share, blames slackening demand in Britain.
Indesit is seeking a larger share of the Eastern Europe market. The company already operates plants in Lipetzk, Russia, and in Lodz. Two more factories are being built in Radomsko, Poland, to make washing machines and dishwashers. The firm also manufactures in Turkey and China.
Indesit had annual sales of $5.28 billion in 2007.
Upcoa expects press to bring in business
PEABODY, MASS. — Urethane Processing Corp. of America is adding its first all-electric molding machine and integrating it with valve-gate, cold-runner technology to boost its silicone part capability.
The company will install the 110-ton Engel press by Sept. 1, said John Argitis, vice president of Upcoa's parent, G&F Industries Inc. of Sturbridge, Mass. G&F purchased Upcoa in September.
``We are seeing numerous new opportunities for Upcoa,'' he said.
The machine, which is tie-barless and servoelectric-driven, will allow for more precision work in such industries as medical, industrial and defense.
Peabody-based Upcoa specializes in liquid injection molding, assembly and design. The new press will be the firm's 13th at its 15,000-square-foot facility.
Briefly …
Custom polymer fabricator Advanced Displays in Plastic Inc. of Batavia, Ill., is adding e-commerce sales tools for real estate agents. ADP supplies forms and plastic products including business card holders and suggestion boxes. The firm's services include pre-production rapid prototyping, tooling, die cutting, drape forming and trimming. President Diane Sullivan co-founded the firm in June 1988 and became sole owner in 1996.