Engineered Plastic Components Closes Rantoul, Ill., Plant

Engineered Plastic Components Inc. has closed an injection molding plant in Rantoul, Ill.

That location supplied automotive components to Mitsubishi Motors' Illinois plant, said Brian Walsh of asset management firm Meadoworks. The Japanese automaker closed that plant, its only production facility in the United States, last year.

Equipment from the closed EPC plant will be auctioned July 13 by Meadoworks and PPL Group, a private equity firm. The auction will include 20 injection presses ranging from 120 tons to 3,000 tons in clamping force, a mix of Cincinnati Milacron, Van Dorn and Toshiba machines, along with robots, resin dryers and granulators, forklifts and other equipment.

EPC, which is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, operates a total of 14 plants. The company recently added new operations in the Southeast with the acquisition of a plant in South Carolina and an expansion to its Leeds, Ala., facility. That region has seen a spike in investments from auto parts suppliers following growth of BMW's Spartanburg production facility, along with production announcements from Volvo Car USA and Daimler AG.