Skaneateles, N.Y. — Tessy Plastics Corp. will buy one of its automation equipment suppliers, Meadville, Pa.-based NuTec Tooling Systems Inc., according to a published report.
The Meadville Tribune reported March 22 that Tessy, a custom injection molder and contract manufacturer in Skaneateles, near Syracuse, N.Y., has agreed to purchase NuTec. The newspaper said NuTec has supplied machinery for the past 15 years to Tessy, which makes underarm-deodorant packaging and medical disposables and does custom injection molding.
The newspaper reported that sale is effective April 1.
Officials of Tessy and NuTec did not return calls to Plastics News for this story.
The Tribune quoted Tessy President Roland Beck saying NuTec's 62 jobs will remain in Meadville.
NuTec has a colorful history. According to the company's website, company founder Ken Deane did his toolmaker apprenticeship at Talon Zipper, the iconic local company that invented the zipper, which was mass produced in Meadville. Big demand for zippers created a huge need for skilled toolmakers, which later made Meadville a center for injection mold manufacturing.
The zipper industry needed specialized production equipment, both to make zipper chains and to build equipment that was leased to clothing manufacturers to assemble zippers onto clothing, according to NuTec's corporate history.
Talon Zipper began to decline beginning in the late 1970s, along with the U.S. zipper industry as clothing and zipper production moved offshore. Deane founded NuTec Tooling Systems in 1983.
NuTec designs and builds factory automation and industrial robotics, including beside-the-press systems that interface with injection molding presses and molds.
Tessy was the 2000 Plastics News Processor of the Year. The company ranked No. 29 in the most recent PN survey of North American injection molders, with total corporate sales of $330 million, and North American molding sales of $305 million. The company has six factories in North America — all in New York and Virginia — and one in Shanghai.
