Hammond, WI-based release-liner and specialty substrate converter Douglas-Hanson Co. will close its Mentor, OH, facility and move that plant's coating line to the company's headquarters location. To make room for the increased production capacity, Douglas-Hanson will also expand operations with a 90,000-sq-ft addition.

"We're putting in about $4 million worth of improvements into [the Mentor] line," says Jon Hanson, vp-marketing. "It will have thermal, solventless, silicone-coating capabilities because we've outgrown our equipment in that area."

The current line, a 66-in.-wide UV/EB coating system from Bachofen+Meier (now Kroenert Corp., Kenosha, WI), will maintain its UV-curing capability but will have a 145-ft flotation dryer from MEGTEC Corp. (DePere, WI) added when the line moves to Hammond. The ovens will handle thin-gauge, low-density polyethylene films down to 1 mil.

Several business considerations led Douglas-Hanson to close the Mentor plant. "The costs of doing business are lower in Wisconsin than in Ohio," Hanson explains. "That's a big reason we're doing it—from an electricity-cost standpoint and overhead. From a management standpoint, it's easier to bring the manufacturing back here."

The consolidation plans also tie into Douglas-Hanson's recent startup of its in-house filmmaking operation via a 3-layer VAREX® blown-film line from Windmoeller & Hoelscher Corp. (Lincoln, RI). "This allows us to thermally cure the polyethylenes coming off the film line on this silicone-coating line," says Hanson.