Extruded sheet manufacturer Primex Plastics Corp. has entered a year-long process of realigning capabilities, expanding plants and optimizing assets.
The Richmond, Ind.-based company recently added machinery and 40,000 square feet of manufacturing space to its plant in Richmond to extrude glycol-modified PET.
The addition was in response to exceptional growth that the firm said it has experienced in PETG demand in recent years.
“We have seen polyester grow in our line substantially — double digits for the last five years. So we needed capacity, because we were very tight,” Tim Schultz, vice president of sales and marketing, said in a Jan. 25 telephone interview.
A Union extruder — which came from within “the Primex system,” according to Schultz — was modified with the addition of a downstream screw for its job in Richmond. The line can handle sheet up to 51 inches wide, he said.
“It really gives us wide capacity because it can do thin- and heavy-gauge extrusion,” he said.
Previously, such capabilities existed only at Pace Industries Inc., a Primex subsidiary in Reedsburg, Wis., that extrudes polystyrene sheet, he said.
“This is more volume-sensitive. We have expanded our distribution program with PETG. Our overall distribution program has continued to grow,” Schultz said.
Primex operates 40 extrusion lines in Richmond, he said. According to a Jan. 12 news release, Primex PETG sheet comes in thicknesses of 0.015 to 0.236 inch and widths up to 58 inches.
The company's plants in Richmond; Oakwood, Ga.; Mesquite, Nev.; Garfield, N.J.; and Reedsburg also are slated to add capacity this year for PS, ABS and TPE materials.
Primex plants in Corsicana, Texas, and Lakeland, Fla., will support the main manufacturing sites for their respective regions, according to the release.
The Oakwood plant recently became Primex's ninth to receive ISO 9001:2008 certification for its manufacture of thermoplastic extrusion sheet and roll stock.
Primex subsidiary O'Neil Color & Compounding Corp. also recently added a 30,000-square-foot warehouse, a 3,000-square-foot maintenance facility and a twin-screw compounding line with 8 million pounds of annual capacity at its headquarters site in Jasper, Tenn.
The O'Neil plant in Garfield also will get a twin-screw machine by mid-year.
Primex ranked No. 15 among North American film and sheet manufacturers in Plastics News' most recent survey, with 2009 sales estimated at $465 million. The company employs 1,150.