Mold maker Unique Tool & Gauge Inc., is planning to invest more than $3.5 million dollars in new equipment for its Windsor, Ontario, facility.
The new equipment, to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2014, consists of a Makino high-speed CNC milling machine, two Roeders high-speed milling machines, three Makino sinker EDM machines and a central robot for automation, the company announced.
“This is going to improve our efficiencies, it's going to improve our quality and accuracy, and give us the ability to handle more work,” President Darcy King told Plastics News. “To become a bigger player in the industry, this investment is needed.”
Unique Tool also plans to add at least 30 professional and entry-level employees to serve an increase in workload. The company currently employs about 90 and is working to build up its existing basic training program to support new hires, King said.
“There is a shortage of skilled workers, and that is a concern. But we're also looking for entry-level and all the way up to senior level positions where that skill set is already in place. And that's very tough, it's a lot of avenues that we're pursuing in order to be able to find these employees,” King said.
The company operates a 60,000-square-foot facility in Windsor, serving automakers and their Tier 1 suppliers. It had an estimated $29 million in sales in 2013, and was ranked as the 22nd largest mold maker in North America in Plastics News' annual ranking.