Seaway Plastics Engineering Inc. is ratcheting up its ability to handle production of bigger parts and making room for its largest tonnage injection molding machine.
“We have a lot of customers and do a lot of different products,'” said CEO Tim Smock, in a phone interview.
The company is adding a 950-ton Nissei press in December. The investment will help the company take on reshoring work from customers that want to simplify their supply chain and are asking that Seaway do more work.
Smock said the company has been making preparations for its newest press, installing a 10-ton overhead crane, a Sailor robot and Matsui drying and loading systems. The company also upgraded the infrastructure at its Port Richey, Fla., headquarters plant, including the electrical system.
He said the new Nissei FVX860 injection molding machine, along with a new 72-ton PNX60 machine that is being installed in October, will boost the number of its molding machines to 29. Previously its largest press was a 500-ton Nissei.
Seaway also has a facility in Brooksville, Fla. That plant added a 120-ton Nissei press in June. Overall, Seaway employs 130 and has about 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
Smock said Seaway has spent more than $4 million on upgrades in the past 18 months. In that time, it has built a 25,000 square foot engineering center, acquired Excalibur Manufacturing Corp, relocated Florida Finishing, a painting and decorating company, next to its molding operations, and added more than 15,000 square feet of warehousing space.
The company, owned by Smock and President Paul Bernard, can handle mold making, prototyping, low and mid-volume production.
Seaway's business, according to Smock, is about 40 percent medical, but it also serves aerospace, military, packaging/food service, industrial, electronics and consumer markets. Products have included an outside cover for an x-ray machine and an internal window frame for an airplane.
Smock said the company has 10 Haas high-speed machining centers, and has the capacity to build more than 250 molds a year.
