Iowa Mold & Engineering Inc. has completed construction of a $750,000 expansion at its facility in Belle Plaine, Iowa.
Built on Iowa Mold's existing 17,000-square-foot facility, the 10,000-square-foot addition is the mold maker's fourth expansion in its 21 years of operation.
“Just looking at our needs over the next three to five years, we felt that we were going to need additional square footage,” said Brad Cook, Iowa Mold's president. “We're looking at the layout of our facility and doing some possible reorganization, trying to make things a little more efficient, and utilizing that space for that.”
Iowa Mold's strongest customer base is custom injection molders, with clients in automotive, agriculture, electronics, consumer goods and other industries.
“Our market is really spread out,” Cook said. “We started primarily just working with businesses in Iowa, and now we're out doing work in Pennsylvania and Michigan, Kentucky; we've really expanded over the last 21 years.”
Cook said the company plans to be moved into the new space and operational within two to three months. In addition to planned reorganization, the expansion will give Iowa Mold space for future growth.
“We're looking at moving into five-axis [machining] in the future, so that's part of our growth plans,” he said.
The company also recently purchased a Haas TL-1 Toolroom Lathe, the company's first computer numerically controlled lathe.
Iowa Mold employs 26, with two or three new jobs to be added over the next year, Cook said. The company reported mold making and tooling sales of $4 million for its most recent fiscal year, with total sales at $5.2 million.
