Minneapolis, Minnesota - Graco Inc. has confirmed that it is to close the Indianapolis plant it acquired when it bought spray machinery manufacturer GlasCraft Inc. for $35 million in December 2007.
The operation employs about 70 people: 15 of these are likely to stay in Graco's employment when the GlasCraft operation shuts up shop at the end of this year, said Mark Sheahan, vice president and general manager of Graco's Applied Fluid Technologies Division, in a written statement.
Production from the Indianapolis unit, GasCraft's only manufacturing site, will move to existing Graco facilities in Sioux falls South Dakota, North Canton Ohio and Minneapolis, Sheahan said.
"As the plant operations close, Graco will build the products in its existing facilities," Sheahan added, in the 13 May statement.
GlasCraft, which had annual sales of about $18 million, was a pioneer in spray systems for composites manufacturing, and offers both open and closed-mould options, as well as dispensing systems for polyurethane foam and polyurea coatings.
Minneapolis-based Graco Inc. supplies equipment for fluid dispensing in both industrial and commercial applications, making systems and equipment to move, measure, control, dispense and spray fluid materials. Polyurethanes became a more significant market for the group when it expanded its activities by buying the Gusmer-Decker reaction injection moulding business in 2006.
During 2007, Graco also consolidated Gusmer-Decker's facilities in Lakewood, New Jersey, and Villanova, Spain, into its North Canton, Ohio, operation.
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