By Michael Lauzon
CORRESPONDENT
Published: November 10, 2014 5:03 pm ET
Updated: November 10, 2014 5:20 pm ET

Image By: Charleston Corp.
Charleston Corp. makes thermoformed ABS parts for recreational vehicles, vehicle aftermarkets and marine industries.

Building products producer and distributor Patrick Industries Inc. has expanded its plastic components business by acquiring Charleston Corp.

Charleston of Bremen, Ind., makes fiberglass-reinforced thermoset composites and thermoformed ABS parts for recreational vehicles, vehicle aftermarkets and marine industries. Patrick Industries of Elkhart, Ind., paid about $9.6 million for the business and assets, which is projected to log sales of about $20 million this year.

Patrick Industries said in a Nov. 10 news release that it will continue to operate the Charleston business as a stand-alone unit in its existing facility under the Charleston brand name. The acquisition fits Patrick Industries’ Frontline Manufacturing business, a FRP producer that makes bathroom fixtures for RVs, manufactured housing and residential housing.

“Charleston brings many competitive advantages to our company, including high quality product relationships, industry experience, and breadth and depth of products,” noted Patrick Industries President and CEO Todd Cleveland in a news release.

“In addition, we believe that Charleston’s new state-of-the-art expertise in closed-mold technology is at the forefront of the fiberglass industry, and provides the opportunity for Charleston to be a leader in the RV industry with high quality closed mold product lines, in addition to its ability to custom design the tooling needed for almost any custom fiberglass or small plastic part to the industries we serve.”

Patrick Industries is a diverse supplier to RV, manufactured housing, furniture, marine and industrial markets. Besides FRP, its plastics stake includes its Custom Vinyls business unit, a producer of vinyl and paper laminates on various substrates for construction products.

For the first nine months of 2014 Patrick Industries’ sales grew 22 percent to $546.1 million, largely on a 24 percent hike in sales to the RV sector, its major market. Net profit for the nine months at $23.4 million was up 23 percent.

Charleston was founded in 1984 by Richard Strefling. Originally focused on FRP components for aftermarket vehicle conversions, it branched into other markets and in 1997 added vacuum forming machines to make ABS components. It runs a large, five-axis CNC machine to custom make tooling for FRP and ABS components. The business employs about 100.

“Patrick is a natural fit for our operation as we are poised for growth and the additional manufacturing expertise and resources that Patrick brings can help propel Charleston to the next level,” Strefling stated in a news release.