Montrose Molders Corp. has been busy this year, adding staff, expanding its machinery lineup and beefing up press sizes.
"We invested heavily in this expansion to keep pace with the growth of our current customer base and pursue a strategy of adding larger-tonnage capacity to handle the increasing number of projects being reshored from overseas," Brendan Wilson, Montrose vice president of business development, said via email.
The additions include seven Nissei machines with clamping forces ranging from 300 tons to 950 tons, giving the company a total of 52 presses. Wilson said Montrose invested $2.5 million to purchase the machines as well as auxiliary equipment such as dryers and water temperature controllers, and to make various upgrades to its materials-handling system.
The company also has added 32 employees this year, bringing its total to 260.
"We are seeing reshoring projects in almost every industry. We field inquiries almost daily for agriculture products, consumer products, and components for heavy machinery, to name a few," he said.
In addition, "several of our key customers have been experiencing rapid growth. We have taken on several large new accounts … and have strategically planned to add capacity to sustain not only current, but future growth."
Montrose's product lineup includes point-of-purchase displays, tight-tolerance gears and containers.
The family-owned company launched in 1966. It has two plants — its 70,000-square-foot headquarters plant in Piscataway, N.J., and a 90,000-square-foot facility in South Plainfield, N.J.
Montrose also has subsidiaries: Premiere Raceway Systems LLC, which injection molds proprietary raceways for cable wire management, and Custom Craft, which makes window components. Both are in Piscataway. In 2011, Montrose bought and absorbed Plastic Monofil; that unit is part of Montrose's in-house contract profile extrusion operation.