Located approximately two miles from massive tornado devastation, IVP Plastics appears to have avoided major damage at its headquarters in Washington, Ill., a company official said.
A large tornado touched down in the community of 15,000 shortly after 11 a.m. local time on Nov. 17, the National Weather Service said, and authorities told local media that one person had died as a result from the storm. Five others had died from the storms elsewhere in the state.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people in our community that have been impacted by this major weather event,” said Tom Williams, vice president and general manager for IVP Plastics in an outgoing message on the company's phone line. “Fortunately, our facility did not incur any apparent damage from this event.”
IVP Plastics serves customers in the automotive, agricultural and heavy equipment industries, making parts such as control handles, levers and instrument panels for earthmoving and construction equipment, along with nylon reducer bushings for natural gas lines and boilers.
“Our plant and our community are without power and are under very tight entry and exit procedures from the emergency manager personnel who are working tirelessly on our behalf. We can't thank them enough,” Williams said. “Please be patient with us and them as they work to restore communication and infrastructure to our community.”
An entire neighborhood appeared leveled on the eastern edge of the Washington, while IVP's facility is located just two miles west of the worst of the damage. Washington is located 145 miles southwest of Chicago. Washington was one of a handful of communities declared as state disaster areas by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.
The company was originally founded in 1953 in Peoria, Ill., as I-V Die Mold by Fred Wadley and was purchased in 1990 by Don Tjarksen. The company moved to Washington, Ill., and changed its name to Illinois Valley Plastics Inc. after Tjarksen bought it. Daryl Lindemann bought the company in 2010 and renamed the company IVP Plastics in 2012, according to the company.
IVP Plastics had $14.5 million in injection molding sales in 2012, which included numbers from the acquisition of St. Louis-based Pro Plas Inc., according to a Plastics News survey. The company has a total of 110 employees between the two facilities.
