Jones Plastic & Engineering Co. LLC has opened a dedicated injection molding operation to serve its growing Rev-A-Shelf business of home-organizing products.
Jones Plastic invested more than $250,000 into a 177,493-square-foot, remodeled section of its headquarters plant in Jeffersontown, Ky., a suburb of Louisville. Rev-A-Shelf marketing manager Shari McPeek said the company moved eight injection molding machines from the Jones Plastic side of the plant.
The project included converting the building from two stories to one.
Rev-A-Shelf claims to be the world's largest manufacturer of home-organizing products, turning out a large number of items including storage units, Lazy Susans, organizers for closets and drawers, hampers and waste containers. The products are made out of plastic, wood, wire and bamboo.
Custom molder Jones Plastic established its Rev-A-Shelf division in 1978. McPeek said the home-organizing market has remained fairly recession-resistant, as people are moving less and fixing up their existing homes.
Jones Plastic molds parts for the Rev-A-Shelf line. Then in mid-2009, Rev-A-Shelf acquired the Lazy Daisy line of Lazy Susans and cabinet storage accessories from Peter Meier Inc. of Kernersville, N.C. Peter Meier had used custom molders to supply the Lazy Daisy turntables, but Jones Plastic brought that molding work in-house — another reason for the plant upgrade, McPeek said.
Jones Plastic CEO Craig Jones said the upgraded Rev-A-Shelf facility will help control costs and further the company's lean manufacturing efforts.
Rev-A-Shelf employs about 300, including about 60 added since the purchase of Lazy Daisy.
Companywide, Jones runs 121 injection molding presses at five factories in Kentucky, Tennessee and Mexico. Custom molding markets include appliances, automotive, computers and business machines, packaging, lawn and garden products and office products.
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