A fire stopped production for about month, but Reliable Formed Plastics LLC is back up and running.
“We've had a lot of help from our customers, friends and vendors. Everyone has been incredible as far as the number of outreaches and support that we received,” said Rick Turman, owner of the Birmingham, Ala.-based company.
The custom thermoformer is able to use about 60 percent of its building, according to Turman. It also is utilizing space within two blocks of the company for its administrative and other services.
“We're still not under one roof. We were fortunate that the fire was not directly in the production area. There was an awful lot of smoke and water from the runoff on the other side,” he said.
Turman said the company used dry ice blasting as part of the clean-up and that a “couple of electrical gurus,” were able to check out the wiring, fix any corrosion caused by the smoke and get the machines running.
Reliable Formed Plastics runs three thermoformers and two 5-axis routers. It has eight employees. Turman has had a thermoforming operation since 1995 and it has been known as Reliable Formed Plastics since 2009.
The company does work for industrial, food, aircraft and automotive markets.
Turman said the assembly area is still a work-in-progress but that he hopes the area can be rebuilt in the next three months.
Reliable was hit by a fire during the workday on March 16. Turman said that the cause is still unknown but it may have been started by a faulty light.