A new company has opened its first light manufacturing plant in the Franklin Business Center. The company, Advanced Extrusions, Inc,., started operations o April 2 and is leasing 6,983 square feet of space in a multi-tenant industrial building at 9652 S. Franklin Dr.
Advanced Extrusions uses a variety of raw materials such as polyurethane, acrylic and flexible PVC to manufacture custom plastic parts. Those parts are used for lawn and garden, sporting goods, automotive, housewares, hardware and other products.
"It’s a real smorgasbord of plastic components," said company president Chuck Hamley. "It’s usually a component of a larger assembly."
Hamley has worked in the extrusion industry for 15 years at a variety of levels.
"I started at the ground level and worked my way up," he said. "I saw companies that grew too large to serve their customers adequately. We think with an emphasis on service and keeping our operation lean, we’re going to have a leg up on the competition."
Hamley has created a sizing method that he says allows the company to make quality parts and do less machining. That method will help the company keep prices low, he said.
Keeping prices low and being responsive to customers will be the keys to the company’s success, Hamley said.
"Our research over the last year has shown us that the customer wants a closer relationship with its provider," said Hamley’s brother, Mark Hamley, who is sales manager of the firm. "Advanced Extrusions looks to fill that gap and looks to operate as an extension of the customer’s business. We offer comprehensive research and development support through every phase of planning and production."
"We expect to double our production in the next three months by offering a price point far below our competitors while producing high quality, close tolerance custom thermoplastic extrusions for our customers," Chuck Hamley said. "Following our lean manufacturing principals and sharing the benefits with our customers is what Advanced Extrusions is all about."
The company currently has four employees and plans to have 15 to 20 employees after a year or two, Mark Hamley said.
Chuck Hamley said the company considered locations throughout the southern portion of the metro Milwaukee area prior to selecting the Franklin site. The size, price and electric power capacity of the facility suit the company’s needs, he said.
May 28, 2004 Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI
