Davis-Standard celebrates expansion of Pawcatuck site
$3M building addition, new jobs highlight the power of plastic
Stonington — Plastic that keeps meat and cheese fresh. Plastic that holds bales of hay. Plastic in garbage bags. Plastic in medical tubing.
If you've handled any of things, there's a chance Davis-Standard, the plastic and rubber extrusion systems manufacturer headquartered in Pawcatuck, was involved in making it. The company has 900 employees worldwide, including more than 400 in Pawcatuck.
And with the acquisition of Gloucester Engineering and a new 15,000-square-foot expansion of the Extrusion Drive facility, that number is growing.
Davis-Standard held a ribbon-cutting for the blown film die cell center, located in a new addition that juts out toward South Broad Street, on Monday morning.
The addition cost about $3 million, according to global marketing administrator Debbie Crowley, and came with the help of $1.3 million in state grants.
Gov. Dannel Malloy, who attended the ribbon cutting, said that “what Connecticut needed to do was create a toolbox that allowed us to be competitive with other states,” and this expansion fits into that goal.
As co-founder of the biotechnology manufacturing company Hydrofera Blue, state Sen. Heather Somers commented that she understands “how difficult it is to be a manufacturer in this environment, and to expand and add jobs is incredible.”
After the ribbon cutting, Davis-Standard employees led officials and manufacturing-sector employees on a tour of the new space, a walk that involved putting on safety goggles packaged in plastic made at Davis-Standard.
President and CEO Jim Murphy
said the idea for the expansion came about 18 months ago and was the catalyst for 23 new jobs in the last year. The company has said the expansion would provide 30 skilled machinist jobs, but Executive Vice President Ernie Plasse asserts it will be more than that.
The top jobs created are for precision machinists, Chief Operating Officer Dan Guthrie said, and these jobs start at $25-30 per hour plus benefits. He added that other new roles include polishers, grinders and assembly workers.
The machines in the new area, some of which cost up to $1.8 million, came with the assets of Gloucester Engineering, a purchase Davis-Standard announced in September 2015. The sales and engineering office is still based in Gloucester.
Murphy said in a press release, “All Davis-Standard blown film die technology is now integrated under one roof, making us one of the largest manufacturers of seven to 11-layer blown film dies in the world.”
With how thin these plastics are, the casual observer would have no idea they contain so many layers.
Guthrie explained that the equipment has little flow paths for the different layers of plastic, which are melted at 400450 degrees Fahrenheit. Plasse noted that the bubble then formed is sometimes up to 20 feet.
This method of extrusion – which Guthrie defined as melting, mixing and pressurizing – is one of two main methods of plastics manufacturing, along with injecting plastic into a mold.
Davis-Standard has operated in southeastern Connecticut since 1848. Work done in the local facility includes processes for piping, medical tubing, sheeting, wire and cable, and blown film, according to Guthrie. The company also has subsidiaries with facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany and China.