Compounders Expand.

Several U.S. compounders have made or are planning capacity additions, and a third has added distribution facilities:

* DSM Engineering Plastics, Inc., Evansville, Ind,, is adding 50,000 sq ft of space and has installed a new twin-screw extrusion line that will add over 15 million lb/yr of capacity.

* To support growing demand for flame-retardant compounds, Gitto/Global Corp., Lunenburg, Mass., will make a 15-million-lb/yr capacity addition by the end of the year.

* Color concentrate maker O'Neil Color & Compounding Corp., Garfield, N.J., recently installed two new custom-built twin-screw extruders.

* RC Plastics of Houston, a div. of Kawasaki-LNP, Inc., will move to a new 86,000-sq-ft plant (nearly double the present plant size) in Houston in the first quarter of 2001. The move will increase its manufacturing capacity from the present 2 million lb to 15 million lb/yr. RC Plastics produces engineering thermoplastic compounds made with post-industrial recycled materials.

* Plastics Color Corp., Somerset, N.J., has moved its manufacturing of color concentrates, liquid and dry colors, and specialty compounds to an upgraded 220,000-sq-ft plant in Dayville, Conn. The new site consolidates production from its subsidiary, Plastics Color & Compounding, Inc. (formerly Coz Plastics, Inc.) in Northbridge, Mass.

* In addition, color-concentrate maker Newline Color Inc., Fitchburg, Mass., last month opened its first service warehouse in the Western U.S. Newline Color Inc./West is in Santa Fe Springs, Calif.