German Molder To Build U.S. Facility

Wirthwein AG, Creglingen, Germany, has broken ground on an injection molding and assembly plant in New Bern, nc, for its new subsidiary, Carolina Technical Plastics. The $11-million plant will employ 70 when full production starts in January.

It is Wirthwein's second venture outside Germany. Its first foreign operation, in Lódz, Poland, was established in 1998. The New Bern plant will house an undisclosed number of Krauss-Maffei injection molding machines of up to 1600 tonnes.

Carolina Technical Plastics' initial customer is Bosch/Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH (BSH), which is producing a new series of washing machines and clothes dryers for the North American market. Molds for BSH come from Wirthwein's tool-building operation, Formtechnik Osterode, Osterode, Germany.