Grand Opening
“It is extremely gratifying to finalize the grand opening of Hedstrom’s new home and to introduce it to the community and industry. We are now well equipped to grow and serve our customers into the future.” – Jim Braeunig, Hedstrom President and CEO Rotational Molding manufacturer Hedstrom Plastics recently celebrated the Grand Opening of its new rotational molding facility on October 22-23, 2010 in Ashland, Ohio. The new manufacturing plant and administrative offices, along with the new Headquarters for its sister company Hedstrom Entertainment, are both located in the new Hedstrom Business Park in Ashland.
Hedstrom Plastics’ new facility has 130,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 16 rotational molding machines utilized for the manufacture of Industrial Products, Custom Molding, Marine, Fitness, Lawn and Garden, and Sporting Goods and Toys. The Company also manufactures from its Diamond Plastics plant located in Dunkirk, Ohio with 8 rotational molding machines and in China with 60 rotational molding machines. The manufacturing operation employs nearly 100 people with three shifts working up to 7 days per week. “The plant runs on clean burning natural gas and all the rotomolders operate with state-of-the-art air control systems,” stated Braeunig. The Company also houses a 5 axis CNC twin table router and a complete in-house machine shop.
Hedstrom’s manufacturing plant serves market sectors including Sports, Exercise, Fitness, Toys, Recreation, Playground, Lawn and Garden, Marine, Pool and Spa, and Transportation. Services include liquid and dry color blending, in-house mold maintenance, polyurethane foam filling, plastic pellet pulverizing, design, development engineering services, special shipping programs, and PVC and polyethylene compounding, and color mixing. The manufacturing company is focused on green initiatives and has incorporated variable speed air compressors, infrared temperature sensors in ovens, energy efficient lighting, recycling of exhaust heat, increasing use of reground polyethylene, and has computer controlled ovens create 30% energy savings,” stated Braeunig.
Hedstrom Entertainment, which houses an additional 23,000 square foot facility next to Hedstrom Plastics, represents the world’s largest ball manufacturing company. Together with the Company’s European and Chinese partners, Hedstrom Entertainment serves virtually every country in the world with ball and related products. The company exhibits a huge showroom displaying product lines, and has warehouse facilities in Los Angeles, Dallas, Jacksonville, Columbus, and Cambridge Ontario, Canada. After a near closure in 2004, financial investor Scott Conery saw huge potential in the business and bought it out of bankruptcy. “We have the best entertainment manufacturing licenses available,” Conery said. “We serve corporate entertainment giants Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilms, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, and many others. Hedstrom serves nearly every retail chain in the U.S. and Canada including Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, Kmart, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Walgreens, and Kroger just to name a few,” he stated. The Hedstrom Park project is a successful reuse and renovation of a vacated big box retail center located in Ashland, Ohio. Hedstrom Plastics has been relocated to the former Walmart location and Hedstrom Entertainment to the former JC Penney location. The entire project represents over 275,000 square feet of renovated space.
The Hedstrom Park Project includes a 30-acre multi-use business park. The renovation process removed 5 acres of asphalt and returned it to green initiatives. The two entities employ approximately 125 local residents. For more information, you can contact Hedstrom Plastics at 888-435891, email hedstromplastics@hedstrom.com or visit online at www.hedstromplastics.com. This article is reprinted by permission of the publisher of RotoWorld®
