Nordson to Consolidate 3 Xaloy Plants in Austintown
WESTLAKE, Ohio – Nordson Corp. announced Friday that it plans to combine its existing screw and barrel operations in Youngstown, New Castle, Pa., and Pulaski, Va., into “a single expanded manufacturing center of excellence in Austintown.”
The plant site, which Nordson is leasing, is the former Tamarkin warehouse on Victoria Road that supplied Giant Eagle grocery stores until it closed in May 2015.
Nordson XALOY operates a plant at 8469 Southern Blvd. that designs and makes feed screws and components for injection and extrusion machinery. The company purchased Xaloy Superior Holdings Inc. in 2012 for $200 million. At the time, Xaloy was headquartered in New Castle, Pa., where the plant continues to operate at 1399 Countyline Road. The Pulaski, Va., plant was also part of the Xaloy purchase.
About 260 will be employed at Nordson’s consolidated Austintown site with most positions filled by workers already employed by Nordson. “It will serve as a production, sales and customer service hub in the Americas for key polymer processing components,” the company said in its announcement.
“We expect this initiative to drive efficiencies in manufacturing processes, decrease lead times, enhance customer service, improve competitiveness and accelerate growth,” said John Keane, Nordson corporate senior vice president, in a prepared statement. “Our plan is for Austintown to join similar regional hubs for our screw and barrel products in Thailand and Germany. No other single supplier will be able to provide the polymer industry with such localized service on a global scale.”
Nordson expects the transition to the Austintown location to be completed over 18 months, subject to “the conclusion of customary negotiations with local and state officials.” The transition will occur in stages to minimize any potential impact to current customers, the company said. “Planned investments include upgraded bi-metallic processing and machining systems to improve product quality, precision and throughput.”
Sarah Boyarko, senior vice president, economic development for the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, said the chamber has been working alongside Nordson’s consultant to manage potential state and local support for the project. She called the announcement “good news” for the township and said the chamber looked forward to finalizing its portion of the process.
“We’re certainly pleased about the fact that the company has identified a local property and plans to remain and grow in the Mahoning Valley,” Boyarko said. “This strategy will make an already successful firm in our community that much more competitive on a global scale.”
Nordson Corp., founded in 1954 by the Nord family, is publicly traded on the Nasdaq exchange and has operations and support offices in more than 35 countries. According to the company’s website, it had sales of $1.7 billion in fiscal 2014 and employs 6,000.
Last month Nordson reported revenue of $489.89 million for the fiscal third quarter, up $5.9% compared to the prior-year quarter, and earnings per share of $1.47. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016, sales are expected to increase 6% to 10%, the company said.
Nordson engineers, manufactures and markets differentiated products and systems used for the precision dispensing of adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials, polymers, plastics and other materials, fluid management, test and inspection, UV curing and plasma surface treatment.
In the polymer processing industry, Nordson provides customers with engineered components to melt, homogenize, filter, meter, and give shape to plastic and fluid coating materials.
Pictured: Nordson’s ColorMaxE powder paint spray system is shown painting lawn mower frames. Photo provided by the company.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
