Grapevine, Texas — Kal-Polymers Inc. is in the midst of adding 50 million pounds of processing capacity, split between two plastic recycling plants in the United States and Canada.
The company, which does about two-thirds of its business in recycled polypropylene, is adding 15 million pounds of capacity in Flowery Branch, Ga. and another 35 million pounds in Mississauga, Ontario, CEO Gobi Saha said.
Installation of a new line is complete in Georgia and testing is now taking place in preparation of full production, Saha said. Equipment is enroute from Europe for the addition in Canada.
Saha said the new capacity will be both flexible and highly automated, allowing for a variety of resins to be both recycled and compounded.
Kal-Polymers has experienced problems keeping a full staff, so the company has opted to address the issue with the new machinery.
"Labor was a problem. During COVID we couldn't get enough people. We had orders and were struggling to run production," Saha said, and the issue has persisted. "We decided more automation was better for us. You have better control."
Automation will help Kal-Polymers deliver on many large customers' continuous orders, he said. "We have to guarantee them we can support their programs."
Kal-Polymers actually started planning for the expansion — which will bring the company's overall capacity to about 150 million pounds per year — a couple of years ago. Despite the down market recycled resin is experiencing now, Saha said the investment will set his company for further success once markets rebound.
"The market is slow for the time being," Saha said during an interview at the recent Plastics Recycling Conference in Grapevine, Texas. But that means the company will have the space and time to run and test the new equipment without immediate pressure to produce.
Kal-Polymers likes to add equipment in advance of winning new business as a way to show customers the firm has capacity to quickly respond to new business, the owner said.
Employment will increase in both company locations as a result of the new equipment, with Saha estimating five to seven new jobs in Georgia and eight to 12 new jobs in Canada. The Mississauga location now has more than 100 workers while the Flowery Branch site has about 40.
The new lines for Kal-Polymers generally cost between $2.5 million and $4 million, but Saha declined to reveal an exact price for each. The Georgia line is priced on the lower side of the range and the Canadian line is on the higher side.
"From a sales perspective, it creates new opportunities. We work with a lot of large firms, a lot of large brands, and they develop large programs. This gives us the extra runway to further the existing programs and bring in new programs," Sales Manager Mark Mateja said.
Nemo Saha, is director of marketing at Kal-Polymers and son of Gobi Saha.
"We keep growing as a result of the demand. Our customers keep growing because their demand keeps increasing, so we're there to support them. And this growth is definitely going to support that," he said.
Gobi Saha said he expects continued capacity increases for Kal-Polymers in the future.