Viking Plastics expands capabilities at Jeffersonville facility
Aug. 26—JEFFERSONVILLE — A Jeffersonville plant is increasing its capabilities through a major expansion.
Viking Plastics, a company based in Pennsylvania that offers custom injection molding, has recently invested $2 million into its Jeffersonville location at 2200 Centennial Boulevard. This includes the addition of two more injection mold presses and assembly cells with the goal of adding three more by the end of September, allowing the facility to bring assembly in-house.
The company is also planning an additional $2 million expansion into 2023.
Previously, the Jeffersonville location did not have injection molding, according to Jenn Ahlbrand, customer program manager at Viking Plastics in Jeffersonville.
"They did have injection molding here at one time, but they took all that injection molding out and moved it up to Scottsburg, and it was just a filling facility," she said. "So in the past year, in the past six months, really, we brought in injection molds again."
Other recent changes at the Jeffersonville facility include a new cooling water system and a new material handling and drying system. The facility has added five molding machines with robots, automatic boxing units and auxiliary equipment.
The expansion has also involved hiring additional staff for management, supervisors, technical and direct labor positions, and the company is expected to hire more staff for the Jeffersonville location into 2023. The company has recently added six more staff to the facility, and employment is expected to double in the molding and assembly areas in upcoming months.
"It means we are able to reach into the community and be able to provide more jobs to people here locally," she said. "It's obviously more revenue, and these parts are being warehoused locally."
The facility's expansion increases the amount of shipments the facility can send — the plant will be sending four truckloads a week when it is at full capacity later this year.
"We're working in the same square footage, but we're putting in a lot of manufacturing, so as far as revenue, it's going to take our revenue way up," Ahlbrand said.
Shawn Gross, vice president of culture and business development for Viking Plastics, said in a news release that the addition of more molding machines and assembly lines in Indiana "will allow our customer to capture more market share and improve logistic efficiencies in the supply chain."
"This also improves productivity in our Indiana facility and enhances our utilization of assets," he said.
