Tessy Plastics (Skaneateles, N.Y.) said today that it plans to add warehouse space to one of its manufacturing facilities to accommodate new medical device business.
The expansion will be part of the company’s South Plant in Elbridge, New York, which currently totals 190,000 square feet.
“There is 69,000 square feet of warehouse space in the South Plant and we plan to add an additional 100,000 square feet on to it,” said Tessy president Roland Beck in a news release.
Tessy’s South Plant was built in 2010 and was initially being used for molding consumer products such as deodorant.
“In late 2017, we decided to move all of the deodorant business to the North Plant in Baldwinsville, N.Y., so that we could mold, assemble, pack and ship all from one location,” Beck explained. “It was a great decision as it allowed for greater efficiencies and freed up some space for incoming business. With the extra space, we are able to accommodate our new medical customer.”
That customer, whom Tessy did not identify, offers a one-time use surgical suction device that is used to collect and filter specimens such as polyps.
“This project was a perfect fit for us. It is a complex assembly with several molded components,” Beck said. “A portion of the components, which were previously molded in a different material, will now be molded with liquid silicone rubber (LSR).”
Tessy plans to mold and assemble all seven of the components that make up the single-use filter. The company said it will invest $20 million and create 50 additional jobs. Production is targeted for 2021, and will include eight injection-molding machines, two of which will be LSR, and an automated assembly line producing 13 million assemblies per year.