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By DAVE GUSSOW
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 9, 2001
It wasn't on eBay, but a Clearwater plastics company picked up some bargains at a Texas auction. And some new jobs will be created in the Tampa Bay area once the machinery is put to work.
Ventel Plastics Corp. took advantage of mobile phonemaker Ericsson's financial woes to scoop up the equipment. Ericsson closed a plant in Texas this spring as part of a nationwide cutback of 12,000 jobs after reporting a 90 percent drop in first-quarter profits.
"We got about 80 percent of what we bid on," said Steven C. Meitzen, vice president of sales and marketing at Ventel. "We got things for 25 cents on the dollar, and the equipment is about a year old, maybe 14 months."
Ventel bought plastic-injection molding equipment that it will use to make products for medical, auto and custom molding manufacturing, Meitzen says. Chrysler and Bausch & Lomb are among Ventel's customers.
It took five flatbed trucks to haul Ventel's bargain purchases here. The bounty will be put to use as Ventel expands its operations this year, including a new 104,000-square-foot plant near the Star Center in mid-Pinellas County.
While tech companies have been struggling, that's apparently not the case in plastics. Privately held Ventel had revenues last year of about $6-million, Meitzen says, and he expects about $8-million this year.
"We just went over 80 employees," Meitzen said. "Two months before that we were at 60. We'll easily be over 90 by the time we get into our new facility."