LMI launches $12 million expansion

CAMBRIDGE, Ohio—LMI Custom Mixing L.L.C. is about to get some breathing room.

The manufacturer of polymer compounds is investing $12 million in a 50,000-sq.-ft. addition to its operations in Cambridge. The move also will add a third mixing line, increasing capacity by 50 percent to 60 million pounds of rubber per year.

Construction is in progress and is projected to be complete by the second quarter of 2017. The expansion comes on the heels of a $2 million investment to add a 20,000-sq.-ft. finished products warehouse to the site, which was completed in 2015.

LMI General Manager Jim Nixon said the moves are in response to a significant amount of growth.

“It's not just one industry in particular,” he said. “A lot of our growth has come from our existing customers, so those that are satisfied with the quality and service that they're getting now. They have their own opportunities to expand their own businesses, and we've been able to support them with either an existing material or a new material that they need that we've had to develop to support them. We have some growth that's due to the industries and customers we've served already and also a few new areas we haven't had before. So it's a nice blend.

“We've always been a company that's been very adaptive to our growth and very responsive to our customer needs. That may mean an additional expansion here, an additional expansion elsewhere or growing through partnership or acquisition. We're going to continue to be the type of company that invests back into the business for the long-term needs of our customers.”

Nixon said the expansion will create the need for additional hourly and salary positions as the company continues to grow. LMI currently employs 100 and serves a variety of markets including automotive, building and construction, fenestration, specialized hose, roofing, belting and rolls, custom sponge, appliance, military, energy, and other technical goods.

The firm worked with the Cambridge City Council, the Cambridge City Board of Education, the Guernsey County Port Authority and PNC Bank to secure tax abatements and financing for the project.

“They were very supportive,” Nixon said. “They recognize the opportunity for continued jobs. Many people that we spoke to at the city or school level had somebody they knew, either a direct family member or somebody they knew who worked here before or someone who works here currently. They know there's a long-term investment in the community when we invest in a project like this that will lead to some continued growth in both hourly and salary-type positions.”

The new line will feature state of the art technology in intermesh mixing, downstream cooling, in-line straining capabilities and general packaging flexibility—including a 135 liter intermesh mixer. Nixon said the entire control system will be updated to the latest platform, and the new warehouse space will be climate-controlled for consistency in both raw material and finished goods storage.

LMI will utilize the new space to optimize raw material and packaging storage to create better process flow throughout the plant. Nixon said the expansion will allow LMI to increase efficiency, enhance safety and become a more productive operation.

“It's hard to put a value on having the right material in the right place when you need it,” Nixon said. “But that's exactly what you have to do in manufacturing. We spend a lot of time making sure, not just through planning, but through continuous improvement activity. We're always trying to get the items that we need and only those items at the point of use where they're needed to increase efficiency. When you're expanding really rapidly, you can't always do the things you'd like to because you just run out of space. This is going to allow us some additional and very much needed space for stuff and people that's going to improve efficiency and safety.”

LMI is a joint venture between Lauren International and Toyoda Gosei Meteor GmbH, which bought Meteor Gummiwerke K.H. Badje GmbH & Co. K.G. and its 45 percent stake in the venture in 2014. Nixon said the dynamics of the partnership haven't changed much, adding that Toyoda Gosei brings a rich history of optimization and efficiency for rubber products in the market.

“They have another unique perspective on how to produce rubber components for the market that they serve,” Nixon said. “When you've got the stuff that we've learned through the course of our own evolution and now you bring a Japanese presence, you've got a very unique opportunity to take the best of the best from all three of those cultures present to things like mixing rubber compounds and providing products to the market. We're at the center of all of that.”