PSI Molded Plastics, an injection molding company based in Wolfeboro, N.H., has invested $5 million in its manufacturing facility in Marion, S.C., to expand the company's capabilities and meet growing demand.
The company had two divisions in South Carolina that were the same size and had 22 injection molding presses each. PSI saw the cost of running these two facilities very close together an expensive task, as the South Carolina facilities weren't as profitable as the firm's other locations.
The company decided to combine the two facilities.
"We moved into existing facilities and reconfigured them," said Bob Muir, president and CEO of PSI. "Shelving, storage, plant layout all optimize every aspect of the two other facilities."
By combining the facilities, PSI can focus more on efficiency and productivity. Without having shipping and receiving products going back and forth between facilities, handling costs have been reduced. The configuration of the 50 injection presses creates more flexibility.
PSI is adding hydrographics, a way of putting coatings on products, during this investment. The company is currently installing this capability along with more automation.
"We're doing lots of automation," Muir said, including robotic cells.
With these new capabilities being installed, PSI will soon be taking on more employees.
"We're trying to do is differentiate ourselves from other molders," Muir said. "We're not just molders. We assemble, we paint, we hydrograph, we solve vendor problems, we also utilize technology."
PSI is No. 99 in the Plastics News' ranking of injection molders with an estimated $80 million in sales.