F&D Plastics Inc. has been in overdrive so far in 2010, buying four new twin-screw extrusion lines and adding five members to its staff.
The color concentrates maker based in Leominster, Mass., has added two new lines there and two at its site in St.-Laurent, Quebec, as well. The new lines are needed because of growth in wire and cable, housewares and cosmetics markets, and also from medical and outdoor products, according to company President Darren Rosbury.
“We're really focusing on new technology as an edge to be able to compete,” Rosbury said by phone Aug. 2. “And these are new machines. When some companies say they have new twin-screw technology, they mean it's new to them, but they're old machines. That's like saying you have a Corvette, but you have a 2000 instead of a 2010.”
This year F&D also has hired three new staff chemists — all with plastic engineering backgrounds — and two new sales representatives with extensive technical expertise, he said.
The firm may add another sales rep by the end of the year and also is considering expanding by buying a competitor, he said. F&D is on track to post sales of $20 million to $25 million this year after ringing up $18 million in 2009.
F&D employs a total of 55 at a 27,000-square-foot plant in Leominster and a 25,000-square-foot plant in St.-Laurent. The Canadian plant moved from a smaller site in nearby Lachine, Quebec, in 2008. Continued growth may cause F&D to outgrow its Leominster location in a few more years, Rosbury said.
Rosbury's father, Roger, founded F&D as a grinding firm in 1967 and branched off into concentrate production in 1993. Roger Rosbury — who is semi-retired from the firm — had worked as a tool and die maker before launching F&D.