Houston-based Texas Injection Molding LLC is investing $6.5 million in its custom-built manufacturing plant to make room for new blow molding operations and a substantially larger tool shop.
The investment includes a Conair central material handling system and central water chilling system, two 85,000-pound silos for bulk material storage, two 10-ton overhead cranes and one 3-ton overhead crane. It also includes a dual-head blow molding machine for its new blow molding operation.
Since 2013, Texas Injection Molding has "almost tripled" its amount of equipment and "more than quadrupled the amount of sales to the point that the existing infrastructure we have here was just not enough," Scott Kelley, president and co-owner, told Plastics News.
"We have machines in places where we wouldn't normally like to have equipment; we have low ceilings," Kelley said.
The new 65,000-square-foot facility, with space to add another 40,000 square feet, was custom designed by Kelley and CEO Jeff Applegate with the benefit of some industry collaboration.
Harry Smith, president and CEO of Automation Plastics Corp., and Lindsey Hahn, CEO of Metro Plastics Technologies Inc., among others, "shared lessons learned" from designing their own operations, Applegate said. "We really appreciate that about the industry."
TIM has started moving into the new facility and expects to be fully operational by May 1.
The investment also includes four-axis robots, a Nissei 180-ton molding machine, a Keyence instant imaging measurement system and a Prusa rapid prototype machine.
Texas Injection Molding plans to hire new employees for "several key positions including mold makers, process technicians and machine operators," Kelley said. "We are also looking at the possibility of adding a 200-ton and 500-ton molding machine within the next 30 days."
The company expects to grow 30 percent in 2021.