Spending two and a half, three million - that's a huge amount. Quite frankly, it scared the heck out of us at first. The company started planning for the expansion because business was good, and forecasted a need for larger capacity, then was awarded the new contract, Currier said. An order for 35 million amenity bottles per year for three years from Marietta, a major supplier of hotel shampoo bottles located in Cortland, gave Currier a need for expansion. After exploring its options elsewhere, the company decided to remain in Auburn and expand locally.
Blow molding is the technical term used to describe how plastic containers are manufactured.
Everything from syrup bottles to sanitary wipe containers begins as plastic pellets, bought and shipped by the pound. These pebble-like pieces are melted in a hopper, at temperatures ranging between 300 and 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, like a balloon artist at a county fair, a machine blows the plastic into a long tube, cuts it, molds it into a specified shape and allows it to cool briefly before the newly formed container is dropped and carried by conveyor belt to have its top lopped off and be packaged. The process continues 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without interruption or change. It's a very repetitive business - the same thing all the time.