Machinery News

Conair boosts downstream extrusion equipment output

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When it opens in September, the 4,645 sq m building will house manufacturing and administrative operations as well as a extrusion lab and training facilities.

In 2007, Conair acquired Michigan Plastics Machinery (MPM), a producer of downstream equipment for large diameter pipe and profile extrusion, and moved that business and all Conair extrusion manufacturing to a 1,672 sq m facility in Bay City, Michigan.

This plant will continue in operation, supplemented by the main Conair production site in Franklin, Pennsylvania, until the new building in Pinconning is ready sometime in late August. The move is expected to be completed by the end of September.

"Since the middle of 2010, when the manufacturing sector really began to recover from the recent recession, we've seen a huge up-turn in our extrusion business," comments Ernie Preiato, Conair Vice President of Extrusion Sales. "In the first half of this year, we've been running steadily at 30 to 40% ahead of plan. A lot of that business is in the medical market, where we supply some of the most advanced downstream sizing and cooling systems for precision tubing, but the large-diameter pipe market is also hot and our extruder OEM customers are also busy. All this together has stretched our existing capacity to the limit."