Ironclad’s New Plant Won’t Deter Growth in County

Ironclad won’t be tossing out its Tustin headquarters when it opens a 60,000-square-foot factory and distribution plant in Shreveport, La., early next year.

Instead, the privately owned manufacturer of plastic trash bags plans “dramatic growth” over the next year at its Tustin facility, where almost 200 people are employed, company President John Marrelli said.

The company’s expansion in Orange County--and the addition early next year of the Shreveport operation--are part of a major push by 3-year-old Ironclad, which also has factories in Texas, Arizona and Virginia. “We’re expanding nationally,” Marrelli said.

Ironclad plans to eventually hire 200 employees at the Shreveport facility and said the first phase of the operation will have the capability of processing 82 million pounds of plastic annually--which should increase Ironclad’s gross sales by at least 30%.

“We selected Shreveport for this important new manufacturing and distribution center for our products because of the area’s proximity to our key markets in the South, as well as the lower market Midwest and Eastern seaboard,” said Mark R. Thoreson, Ironclad vice president and general manager.

Marrelli declined to reveal Ironclad’s gross revenue but said the company expects sales to increase 50% in its 1987 fiscal year, which ends Jan. 31.

The company, owned by a small group of Orange County businessmen, makes and markets a line of plastic trash bags, ranging from eight-gallon wastebasket size to 55-gallon lawn and leaf bags. The products are sold under the Ironclad name throughout the United States at warehouse clubs and drugstore chains, including the Price Club, Builders Emporium, Home Club and Home Depot.