Duna-USA Inc. is expanding its Baytown, Texas, plant to handle growth in the insulation, tooling, aerospace, automotive and sign markets.
The maker of rigid polyurethane tooling and modeling boards and epoxy-based sealers and adhesives is adding 21,000 square feet for a third manufacturing building and an office structure on the 5.5-acre site that it owns.
Duna-USA built the Baytown plant from the ground up, began operations there in 2001 and currently occupies 50,000 square feet.
As part of the expansion, Duna will phase in state-of-the-art automated fabrication capability and a new foaming line.
In a Jan. 10 news release, Plant Manager Tom Lueder said that the multi-million-dollar investment includes a five-axis computer numerical control machining system, and that the project will enhance Duna's ability to meet tolerance requirements and provide cost savings to customers.
CEO Andrea Benedetti said the expansion, once completed in late 2017, will allow Duna to respond quicker to fluctuations in market demand.
Duna-USA makes rigid Corafoam-brand PU and polyisocyanurate foams and custom-formulated pourable systems for applications including pipe supports, core materials and theme/scenic uses. The rigid foams are used in liquefied-natural-gas insulation, composite layup tooling, pattern making, thermoforming and prototyping.
Duna-USA also has a Ludington, Mich., plant that occupies about 20,000 square feet.
Based in Soliera, Italy, near Modena, parent firm Duna-Corradini SpA was formed in 1957, develops proprietary technology, manufactures PU foam in blocks, sheets, special items and liquid systems and makes PU adhesives and epoxy resins. In addition to Italy and the two U.S. locations, the firm has a production facility in the emirate of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.