In June, Germantown-based L.T. Hampel Corp., a thermoforming plastics manufacturer, sold its line of branded portable restroom products to Satellite Industries, a Minneapolis company. Satellite is the industry leader in the portable restroom business.
The sale made sense for Hampel because of the overall decline in the portable restroom business, due to the drastic decline in the construction industry
Although Hampel sold its brand of portable restroom products to Satellite, Hampel continues to manufacture the plastic components for the portable restrooms and other products for Satellite, said Paul Lorge, president of Hampel.
“Satellite was looking to acquire and grow their market share and we knew from competing against them that they contracted out,” Lorge said. “We started discussions for them and the end result was their acquisition of certain brands in the portable restroom space, and a long-term supply (contract) for their parts and our parts for us.”
About two weeks ago, Hampel broke ground on a 30,000-square-foot addition, where it will house additional equipment for forming plastic components for portable restrooms. The company expects the addition to be complete by the end of the first quarter of 2010. The firm expects the portable restroom component business to eventually require an expansion of up to 88,000 square feet, which would add about 10 new jobs.
Hampel has about 85 employees now. About one year ago, it had roughly 100 workers.
Recent order increases have allowed the company to re-hire a handful of workers. It also recently restarted its third shift.
The sale of its portable restroom business and long-term contract with Satellite has put Hampel on the path to growth and stability, Lorge said.
“In the long term, we hope to grow along with Satellite and to support their growth in the portable restroom industry,” he said. “They’re the world leader in sales and distribute in 30-plus countries. This gives us the ability to focus on contract manufacturing and our flagship products.”
