GW Plastics Building New Plant

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GW Plastics has decided to build an entirely new plant here in Costa Rica, instead of trying to expand and retrofit an existing facility, Vice President of business development Tim Reis said this week.

GW announced its intentions last June and the new 33,000 sq. ft. facility will be ready in the last quarter of this year. "We decided to build a new facility," Reis said, because at the end of the day , an injection molding plant requires a specific type of footprint," Reis said.

The decision also raised the investment from $3 million to between $3 million and $5 million. The plant is a joint venture of GW, the majority partner, and Corprosemm Corp., a Cartago injection molder and contract manufacturer for the medical industry.

Joint venture, GW Plastic Cartago has been operating a 10,000 sq. ft. plant here since last summer. The company had been shipping to Costa Rica for the past six years. "This will give us a second low cost place to build medical devices," Reis commented.

"Costa Rica continues to attract health care OEMs, so it is an attractive place to be," Reis added. The company has plants in Bethel and Royalton (both in Vermont), San Antonio (Texas), Queretaro (Mexico), and Dongguan, (China.)

The new Costa Rican plant will have space for about 20 injection molding machines ranging in size from 35 to 200 tons. Doubts about the tax reform bill did not faze GW at all. "We see Costa Rica as a continued growth opportunity," said Reis, "so it made sense to invest well."

Nor is that the only expansion the company has for this year. It is adding 12-14 new machines to its Royalton operation for its liquid silicon business.