By Rupert Howell

United Solutions, a manufacturer of plastic house wares, announced this week that it is expanding operations at its manufacturing facility in Sardis by adding a minimum of 20 jobs, equipment and infrastructure.

The expansion will allow the company to increase production of its consumer plastics products. 

United Solutions currently employs 75 full-time workers and approximately 50 temporaries, and as a result of the expansion, the company will hire at least 20 new employees.

“United Solutions is an integral part of the Sardis community, and I am pleased the company is choosing to  expand its Mississippi operations,” Governor Haley Barbour said Wednesday.

“We are excited about expanding our plastics manufacturing operations in Sardis, and we are also pleased that the expansion will allow us to add additional jobs at the facility,” said Peter Poulelis, local plant manager. “The support we have received from state and local officials has been tremendous, and we look forward to many more years of doing business right here in Mississippi.”

Poulelis said Monday that the expansion includes an additional rail spur beside the present one that will allow more rail cars. The current spur allows six cars to sit beside the facility with their pellitized plastic contents pumped directly into the building or silos. The new spur should double the storage capacity and allow the manufacturer to purchase the raw material when prices are down.

The new spur is made available by a Community Development Block Grant through Panola County Board of Supervisors with matching funds of approximately $40,000 (10% of the total grant) coming through the Panola Partnership, Panola County’s economic arm.

Partnership CEO Sonny Simmons said it was an opportunity for the organization to encourage additional jobs through investment.

United Solutions manufactures plastic items for use around the home and office, and has been located in its Sardis location for the past nine years.

Under its own brand name, the company produces trash cans, laundry baskets, storage bins, and clothes hampers.

Additional lines will be added as new machines become available.

According to Poulelis if it’s plastic and you went to any of the major stores to purchase it, United Solutions probably made it.

Poulelis also noted that the Sardis shipping point offers extra advantages to regional customers as they sometimes ship direct to nearby distribution centers and sometimes directly to stores.

“We have worked closely with United Solutions to help facilitate this expansion,” said Gray Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA). “

“At a time when we are focusing so much of our efforts on job retention, I applaud United Solutions for creating new jobs…” he said.

United Solutions is investing $1 million in new equipment for the expansion.

MDA provided $344,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds for public infrastructure to support increased production at the facility, and the Panola Partnership provided more than $39,000 to assist with this project.

The household plastics, and the local injection and blow mold industry, is adding four new machines: two 500-ton and two 800-ton plastic mold machines.

While equipment is being installed during the next few months, the rail spur completion is presently scheduled for September.

United Plastics also rents storage space in the old Toro Building in Sardis and rail space from Canadian National at Martin Bros. scrap metal.

United Solutions is headquartered in Leominster, Mass.