Woodruff recently added precision cutting capabilities to its Richmond production facility. The company has created a separate facility within its plant centered on the Wardjet-2543 Pure Water & Abrasive Waterjet machine, which features linear positional accuracy of +/- 0.08mm (0.003") per axis, 5-axis cutting, drilling and tapping in a wide variety of materials.

Doug Borgsdorf, general manager for Woodruff Corp., told PlasticsToday at Pack Expo (Nov. 2-5; Chicago) that the machine will give the company the flexibility to cut foam and plastic lumber for its growing customer base. This equipment is in place and will be in production the first week of December.

The company is also adding four sonic welders to increase its production capacity, with two of the new welders to be installed in late November with the other two being added in early January.

Woodruff is increasing staff and plans to hire 12 new employees. The company has already hired four of the 12, and is actively recruiting in its packaging engineering department, WaterJet department and numerous production positions. The goal is to have the remaining positions filled by year-end.

"Anyone can buy equipment, but having the human capital is critical," Borgsdorf said. "This is why we will be investing heavily over the next 12 months in employee development programs."

The company utilized Pack Expo as a training tool for several of its employees.

"We had them work the booth for a half day and the other half day, they went out and visited the show looking for the changes that are taking place within our industry," Borgsdorf said. "It gave them a great insight on what potential customers are looking for from Woodruff, which they could take that back and talk about within their departments."