Kickstart: Don't fence in the potential for growth at Barrette

Barrette Outdoor Living has kicked off construction of a 175,000-square-foot plant in Brooksville, Fla., to make vinyl fencing and railing.

The expansion, first announced in November, will have PVC compounding, vinyl extrusion, fabrication and assembly along with a PVC recycling center capable of handling 40 million pounds of vinyl scrap material each year.

Middleburg Heights, Ohio-based Barrette says its GreenWays Recycling Program works with customers to collect recyclable PVC that is used as substrate in its products.

The Brooksville plant, near Tampa, will add 170 jobs and is close to existing Barrette aluminum manufacturing and warehouse sites.

"Being able to say our vinyl products are made in the USA using recycled material and eco-friendly manufacturing processes are great sources of pride for our company," CEO Jean desAutels said in a news release.

There's a new name in rotomolding and thermoforming. Stern Cos. has rebranded its Stern Assembly Inc. plastics processing business under the name Revolv Manufacturing. Its resin brokerage, sourcing, warehousing and resale businesses will now go by AxisNorth Solutions.

The rebrand does not alter the Brainerd, Minn.-based company ownership, leadership or staffing.

Stern's rotomolding operations were No. 32 in the most recent Plastics News ranking of North American rotomolders, with $16.5 million in annual sales and three plants. That includes its 2021 acquisition of American Custom Rotomolding facility in Maple Plain, Minn.

The name Revolv was "inspired by the rotational movement of the plastics molding process ... representing forward motion, strength and innovation."

The name change begins today, July 6.

The days of a near-monopoly in the electric vehicle market for Tesla Inc. may be numbered.

The annual "Car Wars" study from Bank of America Merrill Lynch is predicting that Tesla's market share will plummet from the existing 70 percent today to 11 percent by 2025 as mainstream competitors including Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. bring their full power to the EV market.

"That dominance Tesla's had in the EV market, particularly in the U.S., is done," John Murphy, a senior auto analyst at Merrill Lynch, said at an Automotive Press Association event in Detroit, as reported by Michael Martinez at our sister paper Automotive News. "It's going to shift wildly in the opposite direction in the next four years."

Tesla will especially face major competition from the F-150 Lighting EV truck from Ford, already being delivered to customers, and the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV. At the same time, Tesla's Cybertruck has been pushed back until sometime in 2023.

The EV market will be growing, so 11 percent may mean Tesla will sell more vehicles overall than when it has a 70 percent market share, but it will mean a very different competitive field.

"[Tesla CEO Elon Musk] didn't move fast enough," Murphy said. "He had tremendous hubris that [other automakers] would never catch him and would never be able to do what he's doing, and they're doing it."