Gneuss Inc. is finishing up an expansion at its facility in Matthews, N.C., and loose ends should be tied up just in time for NPE2018.
At booth W6473, the German maker of filtration, extrusion and measurement equipment will have several products on display, including a complete processing unit consisting of the MRS (Multi Rotation System) extruder, a fully automatic melt filtration system and online viscometer. The company said the unit can process 2,000 pounds of PET per hour.
Gneuss started tearing down walls at the Matthews facility last summer after a neighboring company in the building it rents moved out. The company said the expansion should be officially complete by the show in May.
The additional space gives Gneuss about a 25 percent boost in square footage, going from a 6,000-square-foot facility to 7,600.
"The main investment is higher rent per month going forward," quipped Monika Gneuss, vice president and sales & marketing manager.
"It's mainly more space for spare parts, to stock spare parts, and then we have a much bigger lab now," she said in a phone interview. "We're adding testing equipment to evaluate screen [changers] … like a microscope, and our electrical shop has more space now."
The expansion also includes new office furniture and a larger conference room. Gneuss is looking to hire an additional service technician. The company currently employs 11 workers at the Matthews facility.
The site primarily serves customers in the United States, but also has steady business from Canada and Mexico. Gneuss said machinery sales, especially, have been good in North America.
"We are off to a really, really good start," she said. "We've had two very big orders already in January and February, so if we stay on course, we will be very happy."