CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa—Apache Inc. is expanding its growing U.S. operation for the second time in six months with the addition of a new production and distribution plant in Dallas.
Spanning more than 20,000 square feet, the new facility will produce heavy duty and lightweight belting, hose products, and cut and molded parts.
It will give the firm its first operation in the South. Financial details were not disclosed.
Apache is expected to open the plant at the end of August, according to Tom Pientok, president and CEO of the Cedar Rapids-based company.
He said the firm is getting the building ready to add machinery and other equipment.
“This new Apache location is one more step in our on-going strategy to better support our customer base,” he said. “Today we are heavily concentrated in the Midwest, and this (the new plant) will allow us to more effectively and efficiently reach our customers in the Southern states.”
Pientok said the company has been looking to expand in that part of the country for two years until it settled on the Dallas site.
He noted that lead time is important, and “an enhanced logistics model allows us to help our customers better serve their customers.”
A manufacturer of seals and molded goods at its Portland, Ore., factory and a fabricator of belts, hose and various other goods, Apache operates several facilities in the U.S.
It sells worldwide through distributors and retailers and to original equipment manufacturers.
Apache, an employee-owned company formed in 1963, has grown both organically and via acquisitions over the last several years.
In January, the company announced it planned to expand its Cedar Rapids headquarters and plant another 90,000 square feet, virtually doubling the size of the 100,000-sq.-ft. complex.
Pientok estimated the cost of that project at $7.5 million.
He said the majority of the investment will be earmarked to cover the actual expansion, with a sizable amount used for new machinery. The firm employs about 139 at the plant with another 15 expected to be added once the project is complete.
The expansion at the Cedar Rapids site is well underway, Pientok said. “The anticipated completion of the expansion is March 2016.”
Besides serving as the company's headquarters, the Cedar Rapids facility is used to fabricate and distribute hose and heavy duty conveyor belts. It also produces cut rubber and plastic parts at the site. In addition, the firm operates several other plants in the U.S.
Apache has grown rapidly over the last several years, primarily via acquisitions.
“The addition of a new facility in the South is an important move for us,” Pientok said. “It's not the last move we'll make, just the next one.”