January 29, 2016 Updated 1/29/2016
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Bavarian Polymers The company expects to add 27 jobs in the expansion; it now employs about 60.
Vinyl profile extruder Bavarian Polymers Inc. is spending $ 2.7 million to expand production capacity and warehouse space in Dickson, Tenn.
“Three large new accounts have just signed with us,” said Bavarian co-owner and CEO Robert Weishaeupl in a phone interview.
Bavarian added two new extrusion lines in January and is slated to add two more in the second quarter and another two in the third quarter, Weishaeupl said. The additions will boost Bavarian’s extrusion line count to 16 and lift its extrusion capacity to about 35 million pounds per year.
Weishaeupl said the new extruders are twin-screw, energy-efficient machines supplied by Extrunet GmbH of Kremsmünster, Austria. Downstream equipment, including calibrators and cutting stations, also have energy-saving features, he added.
Bavarian touts itself as a high-efficiency, low-cost profile extruder that mainly sells PVC profiles in a limited number of configurations to large window and door producers to control costs.
“We are small and our niche is to be disruptive,” Weishaeupl explained. It has dual-strand technology that allows high scheduling efficiency and low inventory levels.
The company is site planning and engineering for a 30,000-square-foot warehouse expansion that, when completed in March, will increase the firm’s total space to 95,000 square feet.
“Our success is based on a combination of modern and high-output equipment, low overhead and well trained employees,” said Bavarian co-owner and President Ralph Weiss in a news release.
Weiss and Weishaeupl established Bavarian in 2005 when they bought a manufacturing plant in Dickson, near Nashville. They had been working for vinyl profile extruder Durman Esquivel SA of San Jose, Costa Rica, and when Durman decided not to go ahead with expansion into the Nashville area. Both businessmen were educated and trained in Germany before entering vinyl extrusion. Weiss’s experience includes a stint as CEO of PVC profile extruder Deceuninck North America LLC until 2004.
Bavarian reached the 12 million pound capacity level in 2008 when it added acrylic capstock coextrusion to its profile technologies. It has expanded production capacity since then and along the way introduced high-impact R5 sliding door systems and new, high-volume residential single-hung and single-slider window profiles to its product line.
The company expects to add 27 jobs in the expansion; it now employs about 60.
“It is important for us to work with companies like Bavarian Polymers in making sure they have continued success in our state,” stated Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd in a Jan. 27 news release.
