A Feb. 16 fire destroyed the main production building at Vico Plastics Inc., an injection molder in Edgerton, Wis., but the company remains open at a neighboring site, assessing damages and figuring out what to do next.
The fire caused at least $1.5 million in damage, according to the Dane County Sheriff's Office.
"It's a tragedy and we're just trying to deal with that, process it and take care of our customers [and] stakeholders, including our employees," owner Arne King told Plastics News.
"It's an unfortunate situation, but we will assess and see what happens; we will figure out how to do it, just like anything else," King added.
No one was injured, the Sheriff's Office said in a news release. Employees had left the facility the previous evening and reported seeing no problems at that time. The fire took six to eight hours to extinguish.
The fire's cause has not been determined. The Madison Area Fire Investigation Team will lead a probe. The cause has been isolated to being an electrical issue.
"It's an electrical issue that's really random," King said. "Everything was shut down properly and all precautions were in place. There was no foul play, they've ruled that out. But the whole building is destroyed, and we are working aggressively to come up with remedial [plans]."
Vico Plastics has two buildings on site. The building that housed its molding operations was destroyed, but a warehouse remains intact.
Vico Plastics is pulling all the tools out of the building to refurbish and assess damages. The company is also moving work to other manufacturers to keep up with customer demand, and using the warehouse space to continue with full employment.
King is unsure whether the company will rebuild at the same site or move to a different local location.
The company opened 20 years ago and has $2 million in sales in North America, according to Plastics News estimates.