Pro Tapes & Specialties to consolidate ops, expand facilities

-- Converting Magazine, 4/15/2008

Edison, NJ-based pressure-sensitive tape converter Pro Tapes & Specialties (www.protapes.com) will expand and relocate all operations to a single 140,000-sq-ft headquarters and manufacturing center in North Brunswick, NJ. The company also plans to invest $3.5 million during its current fiscal year in equipment, facilities, and personnel.

The move to North Brunswick will be completed by June 1, the company says. Pro Tapes currently operates out of two facilities in Edison, totaling 40,000 sq ft. According to Pro Tapes executives, the converter has enjoyed five consecutive years of double-digit sales growth, straining the capacity of its current production facilities. They forecast continued sales growth for 2008 and beyond in such key markets as contract converting and private-label services for the retail, paint and hardware, and graphic arts markets, making the need for larger facilities even more pressing.

The new North Brunswick headquarters will provide much-needed space for more efficient manufacturing and converting by allowing better pre- and post-production staging, while greatly reducing redundant material handling, the converter says. Its size will also accommodate new state-of-the-art tape-converting equipment, as well as a new, fully automated packaging line.

“Bigger facilities take the shackles off our operation,” says Pro Tapes chief operating officer Barry Hart. “We will have the extra capacity to support our aggressive sales plans for the coming fiscal year and beyond.”

Pro Tapes president Ed Miller notes that the company’s $3.5-million investment plan is a positive sign in a weak economy. “While most companies are holding back on capital expenditures due to the softening economy, we will invest aggressively in our business over the next few years,” he says.

In an interesting twist, the new Pro Tapes facility in North Brunswick once housed its largest supplier, Permacel, a major tape manufacturer that moved out of state in 2004. “The fact that the building was once used as a tape-manufacturing facility certainly played a role in our decision to relocate there,” says Hart. “Unlike other buildings we looked at, it already has a lot of the infrastructure we need. That made it pretty close to a ‘turnkey’ facility in terms of our operation.”