Nordson Corp., Westlake, Ohio, will consolidate its screw and barrel operations in Youngstown, Ohio, New Castle, Pa., and Pulaski, Va., into a new facility in Austintown, Ohio. The move is being made to help the company better serve the growing global polymer processing market, said John Keane, Nordson's corporate senior VP, and is the next step in Nordson's corporate strategy of creating regional centers of excellence for screw and barrel products, like the ones it already has established in Thailand and Germany.

The process of relocating operations to the new facility, which will house about 260 employees, is expected to take approximately 18 months and will be done in stages to minimize the impact on customers.