Lebanon, Ore.-based Entek Manufacturing Inc. is investing $10 million and hiring up to 50 people at a new manufacturing and engineering facility in Henderson, Nev., to handle unprecedented growth.
The 98,000-square-foot facility will be home to Entek's wear parts production, fabrication, assembly and engineering.
Entek builds turnkey production extrusion systems, twin-screw extruders and components. The company's customers process natural fiber-plastic composites and offer pelletizing, custom compounding, specialty sheet lines, food and medical applications and plastics recycling.
Entek also has divisions for advanced materials and energy storage equipment like lead-acid separators and lithium-ion separators.
"We are expanding our business to better meet the needs of our customers' growing businesses," Entek President Kim Medford said in a news release. "Our greatest success comes from ensuring the success of the product manufacturers that our equipment supports."
Entek is experiencing record growth and needed the additional space to keep up with demand, according to Linda Campbell, vice president of sales.
"We recently expanded our machine shop at our Lebanon, Ore., headquarters, and we already need more space and more workers to keep up with our wear parts business," she said.
For wear parts, Entek manufactures replacement screws and barrels for its twin-screw extruders as well as for other brands ranging from 27mm to 250mm, the company website says.
Entek will begin interviewing and hiring immediately. Medford said she expects to have 50 or more new team members working at the manufacturing and training center by late 2022.
"Once fully operational, our new facility will allow us to stock parts for rapid customer response," Medford said.
The company chose Nevada for the new facility because it is a growing area of the country with a strong labor market, Medford added.
"We used an outside firm to do a multicity survey, and the greater Las Vegas metro area came out first when it came to the availability of skilled labor such as machinists and engineers," she said. "It's a good location for us and not far from our headquarters in Oregon."
Entek's business outlook is strong, according to Campbell.
"We have an aggressive forecast for new business in 2022 and 2023," she said. "This expansion is the first step in what we expect to be a very active period for our company."
In addition to the Oregon headquarters site, Entek has manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom and Indonesia. Its products are sold through its sales offices and distributors worldwide.