Custom injection molder Royal Technologies Corp. is building a fourth facility in Hudsonville, Mich., to the tune of $33 million.
“We see projected growth in all areas,” said President Jim Vander Kolk in a phone interview. The firm's three major markets are office furniture, automotive and consumer products.
The new operation is designed to meet anticipated growth in the next five to seven years.
The company runs about 315 injection molding presses at its three current Hudsonville facilities and at operations in Mission, Texas, and Cullman, Ala. Its sales in 2015 were about $283 million.
Vander Kolk declined to provide equipment details for the new facility, which will occupy 200,000 square feet and include a warehouse and factory. The project will create about 66 jobs.
“Our expansion is an investment in the area's workforce, industry and culture of continuous improvement and mutual success that exists here,” Vander Kolk noted in an Oct. 5 news release.
Local governments are providing assistance for the project. Michigan Business Development Program has awarded Royal a $400,000 performance-based grant to offset construction costs. Jamestown Charter Township is offering a 12-year property tax abatement. West Michigan Works! is adding a $92,000 grant to assist with employee recruiting, hiring and training. Economic development non-profit Lakeshore Advantage helped Royal secure support for the expansion.
Royal, founded in 1987, chose Hudsonville for the expansion rather than its Cullman site, which it built in 2009. It acquired the Texas facility in 2012 when it bought Hi-Tech Plastics Inc. to be closer to customers in the state and in Mexico.
The expansion “underscores the strength of the state's manufacturing talent,” stated Michigan Economic Development Corp. CEO Steve Arwood in a news release.