Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • European Rubber Journal
  • Plastics News
web
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • ITEC
    • Automotive
    • Tire
    • Non-Tire
    • Suppliers
    • Silicone
    • Latex
    • Coronavirus
    • Executive Action
    • Government/Legal
    • Opinion
    • Technical Notebooks
    • International Elastomer Show
    • Women in Tire & Rubber
    • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Goodyear recognized by Lockheed Martin as 'elite supplier'
      EV tire advancements to help secure future
      Lambillotte: Only question on AVs is timing
      CAR official says EV future brighter than autonomous
    • Goodyear-branded transmission belts set to return
      Hot topics at virtual CES: AVs, air taxis and drones
      Apollo to raise prices of Vredestein brand tires
      China's tire production up in 2020
    • Greenergy, Haldor Topsoe tech turns tires to fuel
      India decides against extending carbon black duties
      GRI expanding ag tire capacity at 3-year-old Sri Lanka plant
      Apollo to raise prices of Vredestein brand tires
    • NewAge Industries celebrates 15 years of employee ownership
      India decides against extending carbon black duties
      WCCO task force navigates pandemic, expands communications
      JobsOhio funding gives Sperry & Rice room to grow
    • Safic-Alcan and Arkema working together on distribution deal
      India decides against extending carbon black duties
      Biesterfeld to supply Denka acrylate rubbers
      Ace Products & Consulting partners with Wallace Instruments
    • Ace Products & Consulting partners with Wallace Instruments
      Safic-Alcan extends distribution agreement with Momentive
      Momentive aims to grow silicone presence in Asia-Pacific region
      IRP Medical solidifies portfolio with KDL deal
    • WCCO task force navigates pandemic, expands communications
      ASTM cancels April meetings as COVID-19 continues impact
      Paycheck Protection Program funding reopens Jan. 15
      Detroit Auto Show canceled; alternative event being planned for September
    • ARP Materials adds technical sales manager
      Jack Murphy joins Akron Dispersions
      Adriano Alfani named Versalis CEO
      Maroon Group adds to Southeast sales team
    • India decides against extending carbon black duties
      Hot topics at virtual CES: AVs, air taxis and drones
      Paycheck Protection Program funding reopens Jan. 15
      Taiwan tire makers propose settlement of import duties case
    • Column: Pandemic looms over everything in life, business in 2020
      Column: Lessons from the 2020 Best Places to Work
      Editorial: Silicone hit hard by pandemic, expected to bounce back
      Column: Still far way from normal
    • Effects of multiple repurposed materials for reinforcements of standard rubber compounds
      Impact of peroxide blends on the cure rate and aged properties in HNBR
      Techniques to detect long chain branching in polymers
      A comparative study looking at effects of curing kinetics and batch variation on SBR injection molding and numerical analytics
    • Rubber Division seeks abstracts for 200th Technical Meeting
      WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      IEC keynote: Communication key to logistics
      IEC speaker: Specialized elastomers may reduce spread of life-threatening pathogens
    • WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      New video celebrates women in rubber industry
      ITEC panelists say women can thrive in tire industry
      Rubber Division planning second Women of Rubber event
    • Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Faster Access to Your Polymer Compounding Experts Around the World
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Take a walk thru a HEXPOL Lab
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      HEXPOL offers a unique selection of High Performance Elastomers to match your application requirements
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      It’s what you can’t see that makes the Difference at HEXPOL
  • Blogs
    • Products
    • Wacky World of Rubber
    • New Products: MonTech introduces 1,500 kN lab press
      New products: 3M introduces new durable, pliable medical adhesive
      New Products: Lanxess launches energy-efficient PU elastomer
      New Products: MonTech automates bale cutter for safety, productivity
    • Wacky World of Rubber: How Trelleborg, teens sealed a spot in the world record book
      Wacky World of Rubber: Of chicken and feet, but not chicken feet
      Wacky World of Rubber: Time to go mattress shopping
      Wacky World of Rubber: Because nothing says football like 'frunk' shrimp
  • Newsletters
    • Rubber in Automotive
    • Silicone News
    • Latex News
    • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Goodyear-branded transmission belts set to return
      Hot topics at virtual CES: AVs, air taxis and drones
      Apollo to raise prices of Vredestein brand tires
      China's tire production up in 2020
    • Ace Products & Consulting partners with Wallace Instruments
      Safic-Alcan extends distribution agreement with Momentive
      Momentive aims to grow silicone presence in Asia-Pacific region
      IRP Medical solidifies portfolio with KDL deal
    • Jack Murphy joins Akron Dispersions
      Synthomer optimistic, raises earnings forecast
      Top Glove reopens COVID-hit factories with enhanced precautions
      Malaysia electronics group to enter rubber gloves sector
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photo Galleries
  • Directory
  • Resources
    • Classifieds & Mold Mart
    • Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Sponsored By HB Chemical
      The Company Behind the Inventory
      Sponsored By French Oil Mill Machinery
      Process Improvement, Cost Reduction with Custom Press Systems
    • Sponsored By Uncountable Inc.
      Cooper Standard deploys lab informatics platform to synchronize R&D
      Sponsored By Elkem
      LSR Selectâ„¢: A solution to improve your financial impact in molding applications
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Understanding and Selecting Performance Additives for Rubber Compounding
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Peroxide Cureable Silicone Injection Molding
  • Data
  • Events
    • RPN Events
    • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
    • Industry Events
    • Past Events
    • ITEC Library
    • International Silicone Conference Library
    • 2021 Healthcare Elastomers Virtual Edition
      2021 Rubber in Automotive Virtual Edition
      2020 International Silicone Conference Virtual Edition
      2020 ITEC Virtual Edition
  • Advertise
  • DIGITAL EDITION
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
May 31, 2011 02:00 AM

Flexaust expands into new Indiana facility

Bruce Meyer
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    (From the May 30, 2011, issue of Rubber & Plastics News)

    WARSAW, Ind.—Flexaust Co. Inc. is planning to move into a new facility it purchased just down the block from its main manufacturing location in Warsaw to facilitate continued growth.

    The maker of flexible hose and ducting will invest about $3 million during the next two years to purchase the building, refurbish it and add production equipment, according to Michael Harvey, Flexaust vice president and general manager. “We just got to a point where we were out of space,” he said.

    While the subsidiary of German firm Schauenburg GmbH doesn't reveal sales, Harvey said Flexaust showed strong growth in 2010, and 2011 so far is ahead of last year. The company even held its own with a little bit of growth during recession-plagued 2009.

    As Flexaust continued to grow, company officials realized it would need to expand its manufacturing footprint, and the 53,000-sq.-ft. building was available in view of Harvey's office. It previously was used by a company that made furniture and cabinets for recreational vehicles but the firm shuttered the unit in 2008.

    Harvey said Flexaust bought the nearly 30-year old structure for $700,000 and will put another $600,000 into renovations.

    He said it needed much work, including a new roof, siding, a new parking lot, and grading and drainage work. Flexaust also is reworking the dock area and brought additional power to the building so it could handle the extrusion and injection molding machinery it will install.

    The ducting firm hopes to be in the new facility by Aug. 1, according to Harvey. It will house the Day-flex-brand product line, which basically consists of smaller-diameter hose products used in industrial floor-care applications.

    The line was purchased from Dayco in 1999 and utilizes such materials as urethanes, thermoplastic rubbers, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene.

    New machinery will include vertical injection molding machines used to overmold cuffs onto hoses, along with several new extruders to replace some of the firm's older equipment.

    About nine of the 135 employees at Flexaust's current 115,000-sq.-ft. plant will relocate down the block, and the firm plans to hire up to 25 additional workers for the plant as well.

    Logistically, the new location is ideal, he said, noting that Flexaust had considered a building about 7 miles away.

    But the building also will be used as warehouse space for some of the raw materials used in the main facility, making transfer simple, and quarterly meetings of employees will be simple to set up.

    “From a management and continuity perspective, it just made more sense to be this close instead of across town,” Harvey said.

    It also was logical to locate the entire Dayflex line in the new plant because that product typically is made to order and customers for those products normally don't order other Flexaust lines.

    By contrast, other sectors of Flexaust's business may have seven or eight separate products on a single order, the executive said.

    The main factory will continue to manufacture five different product lines, and Harvey said the company will make capital expenditures of about $1 million there within the next 18 months.

    It will add more extrusion and hose-making lines to handle growth in its larger-diameter TPR, PU and PVC products.

    Government help

    Flexaust received a good deal of government aid to convince it to locate its additional capacity in Warsaw, according to Harvey. The manufacturer will receive a 10-year tax abatement on equipment purchases and plant improvements; a two-year property tax credit; employment tax credits for the 25 positions that will be added; some state assistance on employee training; and a separate abatement on the $1 million capital investment that will go into the current factory.

    The hose and ducting firm also had considered expanding its El Paso, Texas, unit instead.

    “We talked to both states and Indiana really stepped up and didn't want us to move anything out of here,” Harvey said. “They also really wanted someone to refurbish that building because it was getting to be an eye sore.”

    He said Indiana was much more helpful this time around then when Flexaust put a 15,000-sq.-ft. addition on its Warsaw plant in 2006. “When we approached them, we could tell it was a much different attitude,” he said.

    Besides Warsaw and El Paso, Flexaust has manufacturing sites in Amesbury, Mass., and North Las Vegas, Nev.

    The 20,000-sq.-ft. Las Vegas location was moved there last year from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., because of environmental laws in California related to an adhesive used in one of Flexaust's products. Harvey said the firm also was able to afford a building twice the size in Nevada than California because of lower lease rates.

    The Amesbury site was expanded to 20,000 square feet last year by taking over more space in the existing building. He said that allowed more manufacturing and warehousing space, along with an increase in the size of the research and development laboratory located there.

    Looking to South America

    Flexaust also is actively pursuing distributors in Brazil and Argentina, initially for its Flex-Thane LD polyurethane hose used in woodworking dust collection applications.

    “For us, it's a new market,” Harvey said.

    He thinks U.S. ducting manufacturers haven't done a good job yet in trying to sell into the South American market, which he sees as still having a European influence.

    Harvey said Brazil's economy is similar to that of the U.S., not in terms of size but in the various markets and how they operate. Doing business there today is similar to what it was in the U.S. 25 years ago, when relationships and loyalty meant something.

    “It's one of those markets where it's difficult to get in (with a customer), but once you're in it's difficult to lose them unless you just really screw up or betray them,” Harvey said.

    Flexaust eventually will look to market its full line of products there, with manufacturing in South America a possibility at some point in the future if business warrants, he said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Rubber & Plastics News wants to hear from its readers. If you want to express your opinion on a story or issue, email your letter to Editor Bruce Meyer at [email protected].

    SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Rubber & Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe Today

    Subscribe to Rubber & Plastics News to get the best coverage and leading insights in the industry.

    SUBSCRIBE
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    MISSION

    To serve companies in the global rubber product industry by delivering news, industry insights, opinions and technical information.

    web
    Contact Us

    2291 Riverfront Pkwy, Suite 1000
    Cuyahoga Falls,
    OH 44221

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1726

    Resources
    • About Us
    • Digital Edition
    • Contact the Staff
    • Advertise
    • Order Reprints
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    • Terms of Service
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Partner Sites
    • Tire Business
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Plastics News
    • Plastics News China
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Automotive News
    • Crain Brands
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • ITEC
      • Automotive
      • Tire
      • Non-Tire
      • Suppliers
      • Silicone
      • Latex
      • Coronavirus
      • Executive Action
      • Government/Legal
      • Opinion
      • Technical Notebooks
      • International Elastomer Show
      • Women in Tire & Rubber
      • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Blogs
      • Products
      • Wacky World of Rubber
    • Newsletters
      • Rubber in Automotive
      • Silicone News
      • Latex News
      • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Photo Galleries
    • Directory
    • Resources
      • Classifieds & Mold Mart
      • Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
    • Data
    • Events
      • RPN Events
      • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
      • Industry Events
      • Past Events
      • ITEC Library
      • International Silicone Conference Library
    • Advertise
    • DIGITAL EDITION