Color Master Inc. has added almost 90,000 square feet at its two Indiana locations.
The compounder and concentrate maker in March wrapped up a 16,000-square-foot expansion at its headquarters site in Butler, Ind. Of that space, 8,500 square feet will be used for manufacturing and warehousing, with the other 7,500 square feet going for office space, President Kyle Skaggs said in a May 25 phone interview.
The $1.7 million expansion will allow CMI to add 5 jobs this year and as many as 25 over the next several years, he added. The firm also recently added a new twin-screw extrusion line at the site and plans to add another in 2017, Skaggs said. Prior to the expansion, CMI employed 76 at a 46,000-square-foot site in Butler.
CMI also recently bought a 72,000-square-foot building near its other manufacturing site in Kendallville, Ind., about 20 miles west of Butler. The firm paid $950,000 for the building, which Skaggs said will be used for warehousing.
The 45,000-square-foot Kendallville plant employs 20 and was acquired by CMI in 2009. It formerly housed compounder PVC Compounders LLC, but was closed when private equity firm Spell Capital sold its PVC compounding business to Manner Plastics LP.
Skaggs said the new space and new building are needed to handle growth that's occurred as CMI has added new sales people and expanded into other parts of the U.S. The firm's color concentrates business has seen solid growth in recent years, he added.
CMI also has benefited from a rebound in the market for PVC compounds made at the Kendallville site. “PVC wasn't doing well at first when we bought it, but we started getting a good return beginning in 2015,” Skaggs said. “The building and construction market has done well for us.”
Other end markets served by CMI include consumer products, medical and packaging. In addition to PVC, CMI makes materials based on polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and ABS. The 25-year-old firm expects to post sales of $30 million this year.
