LAPORTE, Ind.—NRP Jones soon will move into a new warehouse and office facility in LaPorte that will give it room for additional fittings manufacturing at an existing plant.
The company plans to complete construction of the 20,000-sq.-ft. building in June and move in during July, giving NRP Jones a total of five facilities in LaPorte, according to Gary McDonald, director of sales and marketing. No investment for the project was disclosed.
NRP Jones is made up of two companies that operate as one business.
Jones Enterprise Inc. is based in LaPorte and manufactures and sells hydraulic fittings, adapter and screw machine piece parts.
Nephi Rubber Products—wholly owned by the Jones family since 1991—is located in Nephi, Utah, and makes hydraulic hose, large-diameter industrial hose and high-pressure drilling and vibrator hose for land and offshore drill rigs.
The new facility in LaPorte is across the street from where the current warehouse and office are located. “That opens up much-needed room in the existing building here for fittings manufacturing,” McDonald said.
NRP Jones last expanded in LaPorte in 2004, and McDonald said space in the building added at that time is now cramped. Company owner and President Terry Jones bought the land last year with this expansion in mind.
The additional space made by moving the office and warehouse functions more than likely will be used for additional machinery to make the company's line of fittings, McDonald said.
“We've seen an increase in our business since the first of the year,” he said.
The fittings predominantly go to the same customer base as its hose products.
McDonald said the firm has plenty of hose manufacturing capacity at its Utah factory. NRP Jones did recently introduce its first lines of SAE 100R7 and SAE 100R8 thermoplastic hose and fittings, and SAE 100R14 PTFE hydraulic hose and fittings to meet customer demand and fill out its product lineup.
“The products have been very well received in the marketplace,” he said.