Tessy Plastics Corp. has earmarked $9.2 million to expand its Lynchburg, Va., operation.
Tessy plans to add 40,000 square feet to the facility and install 10 more injection molding presses, mainly in the 200-400 ton range, according to Doug Jobe, general manager of Tessy's Lynchburg division.
"We want to continue supporting the community and our talented people in Lynchburg," Jobe said in a phone interview. The site beat out operations in New York state for the project.
Tessy now runs 46 injection presses in Lynchburg with clamping forces ranging from 40 to 720 tons. The facility employs more than 200 and 34 more are slated to join over the next three years. The addition to the 88,000-square-foot operation should be complete late this year or in the first quarter of 2019, Jobe said. The company also will add robotics and a central conveying and drying system in the project.
New consumer products will be molded in Lynchburg. That new business and organic growth convinced Tessy to plan its investment in the 20-year-old operation.
"We at Tessy Plastics have an excellent, hardworking and honest work force," said Ken Beck, president of the Lynchburg division.
Tessy's markets include medical, automotive, aerospace and military. It is a global medical contract manufacturer with ISO 13485 certification as well being compliant with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations.
Tessy logged injection molding sales of $280 million last year according Plastics News data. The Elbridge, N.Y., company manages six molding plants in Virginia and New York and has operations in China.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and other local agencies supported Tessy's project. It qualified for $200,000 in assistance through the Commonwealth Opportunity Fund. It also is eligible for other grants and state benefits and sales tax exemptions on machinery. Funding for training also is available.
"Virginia's strategic Mid-Atlantic location, superior transportation network and competitive operating costs make the commonwealth an optimal home for plastics and advanced materials companies, as evidenced by the more than $1 billion invested in the industry in the past decade," noted Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam in a news release.
Tessy will participate at NPE2018 in Orlando, Fla., booth S32097.