Fombell, Pa. — PVC profile extruder Veka Inc. is adding capacity at its four North American plant locations.
The Fombell-based company announced July 8 that it will invest more than $48 million in extrusion infrastructure over the two-year period of 2021 and 2022. In total, 23 lines will be added across North America, expanding both window and door profile extrusion and Veka Outdoor Living Products.
"We see excellent potential in working with our existing customer partners to take advantage of a strong market that promises to continue for the foreseeable future," Joe Peilert, president and CEO of Veka North America, said in a news release.
The company is also focused on hiring and retention, which it said was "critical in addressing a current bottleneck affecting most building products manufacturers." Veka said it has "significantly raised entry wages," and that existing team members will receive their second increase within eight months, starting July.
"While we believe availability of raw material components will be tight through the end of the year, we see labor availability as an ongoing issue," Peilert said.
Parent company Veka AG is based in Sendenhorst, Germany. Veka North America ranked No. 23 in the most recently published Plastics News survey of North American pipe, profile and tubing extruders. The company posted 2020 North American profile sales of $255 million, up from $215 million in 2019. It employs 868 and has 130 extrusion lines.