"We want to be clear, we're going to be a Tier 2 facility to support our Tier 1 customers," he said. The molding operation also will serve nonautomotive markets, such as consumer and commercial products.
Integrity Injection Molding also will support the nearby Integrity Tool facility in Pulaski, he said.
Rowdon declined to say how much Integrity Tool invested in the molding plant, which is located on a 20-acre site, allowing for future expansion. The current building has room for nine injection molding machines, he said.
Initially the plant will have KraussMaffei injection presses of 618 tons, 1,124 tons and 1,800 tons. Those three KM presses are already in the plant, Rowdon said. The company has ordered two 550-ton Yizumi-HPM machines, one with a 27-ounce shot size and the other with a shot size of 55 ounces.
Integrity Injection Molding will offer quality systems, tooling support, mold flow analysis, in-house tryouts, support for research and development, design and logistics services.
Overall, Integrity Tool & Mold employs more than 750 in mold making plants in Oldcastle, Pulaski and Querétaro, Mexico. The company makes a variety of injection molds, including tools for multi-shot rotary molding, stack molds, aluminum production tools, compression tools and molds for magnesium molding.
Integrity Tool also has an operation in Troy, Mich., that houses a sales and engineering team and has recently began manufacturing fixtures and gages, in addition to 3D printing.
Integrity Tool already has some injection molding machines in its mold-making facilities, used in running mold trials.
Rowdon said the facility in Mexico does mold trials too, but that operation is slowly converting some of its business into production molding, both automotive and nonautomotive.
"We're doing that from just demand. There's just such as strong business need down there for people with press capacity," he said.
In Pulaski, Integrity Injection Molding will be a production molder from day one, he said.