Automotive supplier Proper Polymers, a division of Proper Group International, will build a new injection molding plant in Pulaski, Tenn.
The plant will be its first in the state and third overall. Proper Polymers also has operations in Warren, Mich., and Anderson, S.C.
“We currently are in the Southeast, and we see a lot of growth still in the South,” President Joe Grippe said in a telephone interview. “The location we're in is very close to key customers and it's central to other customers … it's strategic from a location standpoint, it really helps us capture and support our customers in that area.”
The 44,000-square-foot facility will manufacture two-shot and three-shot components for automotive and non-automotive lighting, along with other automotive exterior trim and support parts.
The expansion represents an investment in excess of $10 million, Grippe said.
The plant is expected to be in operation in the third quarter of this year. Initially, Proper Polymers plans to run nine Krauss Maffei presses in the facility, ranging from 100 tons to 1,500 tons of clamping force. That number will grow to as many as 15 machines after three years.
The plant will employ about 50 at opening, and is projected to employ 175 in the next three years. Proper Polymers is headquartered in Warren.