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Looking for a big molding plant? There’s one on the auction block in El Paso, Tex., billed by the seller as “the largest injection molding plant west of the Mississippi.” The 423,435 ft² facility is where Hoover used to make vacuum cleaners. Back in March, TTI Floor Care, an Ohio-based subsidiary of Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd., Hong Kong, announced it would close the El Paso plant, as well as a 274,295-ft² operation across the border in Juarez, Mexico, in what it called a “strategic” decision.

TTI got the facility, which boasts 150 Van Dorn presses ranging from 85 to 1100 tons, when it bought Hoover from Whirlpool in 2007. TTI then created a Floor Care group, consisting
of Hoover, Dirt Devil, and Vax (and now Oreck). It closed Hoover’s North Canton, Ohio, plant as part of an August 2007 “Strategic Repositioning Plan.” At the time, TTI said it would relocate manufacturing to Texas, Mexico, and China. But in February 2013, TTI cut employment at El Paso nearly in half and then closed it this past March.

On July 31, Los Angeles investment firm and two auction companies, BidItUp Auctions Worldwide and Maynards, acquired the two properties. The facilities and equipment were appraised for tax purposes at $12.2 million and $11.2 million, respectively. In addition to the Van Dorns, the El Paso plant includes a CNC
mold-repair shop, as well as closed-loop water chilling systems, nine 10-ton cranes, 120
granulators, and a complete material-handling system, including resin silos.

is currently fielding inquiries and entertaining potential buyers for the entire facility, even offering financing or leasing. If a single buyer doesn’t emerge, the company will conduct a piecemeal auction in October.