Amid increasing sales growth, Falcon Plastics is flying high with the expansion of its Madison, S.D., facility to meet the growing demand.
The expansion includes the conversion of a 17,000-square-foot warehouse into manufacturing space. Falcon has supported the expansion by temporarily moving the facilities warehouse off-site.
"Falcon's customers have been growing in sales the past few years and it was determined that in order to continue meeting our customers' needs, we would need additional space," Karissa Kopecky, marketing manager for the company. said.
Falcon Plastics is a family owned and operated business headquartered in Brookings, S.D. Founded in 1975, Falcon has been molding customer ideas into a wide variety of products in use every day by people all over the world. Falcon Plastics currently operates three manufacturing facilities with over 250,000 square feet of facilities in Brookings and Madison, S.D., and Lexington, Tenn., as well as a partnership in a 40,000-square-foot facility in Suzhou, China.
Falcon's key markets are electronic, medical, automotive/industrial, consumer and sporting goods, and construction. Falcon's Madison facility focuses on consumer and sporting goods. The company had an estimated $39.7 million in injection molding sales according to Plastics News' 2018 ranking. It had an estimated $3.6 million in sales in the blow molding ranking.
The company never entertained any thoughts of moving its facility.
"Madison and our other plant locations are located in communities that, as a company, we want to continue to grow in and support," Kopecky noted.
The company completed the first phase of construction during the first week of December and is moving forward with installing new equipment, which will be in place and running by spring.
Due to confidentiality agreements with some of its customers, Falcon officials were unable to disclose what types of machines are being added.
"We can say that we are adding approximately 11 different pieces of equipment, of various sizes, that will support us in manufacturing to meet our customers' needs," Kopecky added.
In the next phase of the project, Falcon is constructing a new 26,750-square-foot warehouse on the east side of the existing building.
Falcon selected Brookings, S.D.-based Mills Construction as the contractor for the construction project, Mills Construction is very familiar with Falcon's needs and has been able to work with the company's accelerated timeline.
Mills also constructed the Falcon Brookings facility, along with multiple additions and re-models for the company.
Kopecky said the new addition is currently on track to be done in mid-May 2019.
The additional warehouse space will allow Falcon to grow with its diverse customer base and distribution services and the entire project will help Falcon create additional jobs.
"Right away we will be adding a couple of positions, as the product lines continues to grow in the next few years, you will see us continually adding to our team," Kopecky said.
According to Kopecky, the project will allow Falcon to partner with its customers and bringing in new equipment will expand its manufacturing processes and needs to better support and grow with its customers.
The company is forecasting continued growth patterns, which will allow for additional growth of the business and jobs to the Brookings and Madison, S.D., areas.
Randy Morehouse, plant manager in Madison, noted that the future is bright for Falcon.
"We have been and will continue working strategically to grow our sales in all of our plants in the upcoming years," he said.
Morehouse added the company strives to support its employees and provide a stable company that the community and its customers can embrace.
"Falcon Madison's continued growth wouldn't be possible without the great customers we have, the outstanding team members that give it their all every day, and the continued support from our corporate office in Brookings, S.D.," he said.