Quadrant EPP USA Inc., doing business as Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products, will close a manufacturing facility in Fort Wayne, Ind., and move the production to Delmont, Pa.
``The move to Delmont is to combine like operations into one site,'' Quadrant EPP spokesman Kress Schwartz said via e-mail.
The plant employs about 50 and machines and fabricates parts mainly from ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene.
``Although this was a difficult decision, we expect to be well-positioned for the future as a result of these cost-cutting measures,'' Quadant EPP President Glen Steady said in a news release.
Quadrant expects to complete the consolidation by March 31.
The firm's other Fort Wayne operation will remain open. That site employs about 110 making UHMW PE rods, profiles, tubes, specialty shapes and the company's MediTech-brand medical polymers.
Quadrant EPP has North American plants at its headquarters site in Reading, Pa.; two in Scranton, Pa.; Wytheville, Va.; Toluca, Mexico; and Irapuato, Mexico, Schwartz said. The company and foreign affiliates supply engineering polymers including high-heat performance polymers for machining. Main markets include food processing, semiconductors, aerospace, chemical processing and diverse industrial equipment.
Sister company Quadrant Plastic Composites recently reported that it formed a joint venture in April with Blechformwerke Bernsbach AG to exploit metal/plastic hybrids in structural components for automotive, machinery and engineering markets. The venture, called Quadrant Metal Plastic Solutions GmbH, is based in Hainichen, Germany.
Quadrant PC is a leading producer of glass-mat thermoplastic composites. Quadrant EPP and Quadrant PC are units of Quadrant Group of Zurich, Switzerland.