More Milestones for EVCO Plastics

 

For custom injection molder EVCO Plastics, based in DeForest, Wis., 2019 was a year of milestones, and there are more on the horizon for 2020:

 •  In 2019, EVCO bought its 200^th injection machine at the K 2019 show in October for its Mexican plant.

 •  Last fall, EVCO broke ground on a 31,000 ft² addition to its Oshkosh, Wis., plant, making room for new 2500- and 3500-ton Engel presses. The new space will open in this first quarter.

 •  In late fall, EVCO brought on line a brand-new UV-cured paint line in DeForest, a $600,000 investment for applications in power sports, electrical housings and industrial parts. This expands the firm’s capabilities as a contract manufacturer.

 •  This year, the company hopes to hit $200 million in sales from its nine plants in three countries.

EVCO increased its machine capacity by 10% last year and expects to do the same this year. In addition to the two large Engel machines for Oshkosh, EVCO purchased nine JSW presses of 200 to 250 tons for its Calhoun, Ga., packaging facility, along with one 500-ton Husky machine and 10 robots (mostly Sepro) for that plant.

Ongoing projects at EVCO include growth of its 3D printer “farm,” which now encompasses around a dozen printers making fixtures for metrology, prototype molds, and robot grippers. Also the company is working toward a semi-“lights-out” operation—more like “grayed out,” as company officials put it—that will have only a couple of persons on the shop floor.