Rotational molder Diversified Plastics Inc. plans to delve deeper into custom work through the acquisition of Atlanta Rotomolding Inc.
Diversified is in the process of expanding its Union Point, Ga., facility to accommodate both equipment and employees from Atlanta Rotomolding, which was located about an hour away in Decatur, Ga., said Scott Oaks, vice president of operations at Diversified.
It was early last year that Diversified expanded to Union Point, adding a second location beyond its Latta, S.C.-based headquarters. That move came, in part, to facilitate the company's growing business in large commercial waste and recycling containers.
Diversified originally occupied 35,000 square feet in Union Point in a complex that formerly made hosiery, but with the new equipment from Atlanta Rotomolding, the company is reorganizing operations and taking control of another 15,000-square-foot building. The larger building will house production, and the newer space will handle shipping.
While Diversified has offered custom molding, this portion of the business has never been a major focus of the firm, which has instead relied on manufacturing its own products, Oaks said. Adding space and equipment will allow his firm to expand more deeply into making products for other firms.
Diversified's growth to a second facility in Georgia last year came as a result of the firm's move into making waste and recycling containers. These containers can hold 2, 4, 6 or 8 cubic yards of material and are typically used by businesses. Diversified acquired the U.S. patent rights for this line of containers, also made in Canada, and used that as a basis to start up operations in Georgia.
Employment in Union Point has just about doubled to 12 through the Atlanta Rotomolding acquisition, and Oaks said he expects the firm will need about 20 workers at the site ultimately.
While Diversified has been in the Union Point facility since early 2016, the company is only now publicizing its existence. The two company locations are about four hours apart, Oaks said. The newer facility, he said, "just allows us to be a little more accessible" to certain customers and helps with logistics, he said.
"We opened it up to grow our new product line," he said.
"Purchasing Atlanta Rotomolding, it just allows us to get into some custom work and get into some other business," Oaks added.
Diversified makes a variety of rotomolded products, including carts, containers, totes, drums and column protectors, traffic barricades and steps. Customers include those in the industrial, textile, hospitality, agricultural, marine and waste and recycling sectors.
Diversified ranked 51st in the most recent Plastics News list of rotational molders in North America, with estimated annual sales of $9.4 million. Atlanta Rotomolding was not on the list.
Diversified is located in two buildings that are part of the former Chipman-Union Mill Inc. complex in Union Point, a sock company that went out of business in 2001. Chipman-Union once made Odor-Eaters brand socks, according to the Georgia Institute of Technology library.
