Company to move division to Douglas County

The Northern Nevada Development Authority recently announced that VIP Rubber and Plastic is moving a recently acquired plastic division from Ontario, California, to Douglas County.

According to the NNDA, VIP recently purchased a building in Minden and plans to create 40 jobs at the new northern Nevada location. VIP Rubber and Plastic’s main manufacturing facility located in La Habra, California, will be unaffected by the move.

Founded in 1961, VIP Rubber and Plastic is a family owned and operated full-service rubber and plastic manufacturer capable of producing custom molded and extruded products for virtually any application. The business provides components for a wide array of industries such as automotive, aerospace, defense and many others.

“We are very happy to be moving the newly acquired plastic division to Minden,” said Howard Vipperman, president and CEO of VIP Rubber and Plastic Company. “We could have located anywhere, but Nevada has the best, most business-friendly environment of all the places we looked at.”

The company’s name comes from the first three letters of Vipperman. The business sells nationally in every state in the union, and has a staff of about 180 workers.

“We’re still considered a small company,” Vipperman said. “We’re really excited to be coming to Minden.”

VIP Rubber doing business as La Habra De Plata, bought the property at 2393 Heybourne Road for $3.16 million, according to NAI Alliance Industrial Properties Group.

The 52,741-square-foot building was formerly leased to Nevada Filtration Systems. Escrow closed on the industrial building on Oct. 2.

The business is currently in the process of obtaining the permits necessary to complete some minor improvements to its new location. The company plans to be operational by January 2016. VIP is offering the employees currently working at the Ontario division the opportunity to move with the company but expects many of the jobs to be filled by local employees.

“VIP Rubber and Plastic will make an excellent addition to our manufacturing community in northern Nevada,” said Robert Hooper, executive director of Northern Nevada Development Authority.

“The types of jobs that VIP plans to bring are a good example of the high-paying primary jobs we need to grow our economy. VIP’s decision to move to the Sierra Region further demonstrates our business-friendly environment.”

NNDA began working with VIP Rubber in 2010 in conjunction with NV Energy’s economic development team. Also participating were Matt Carter of Intero Real Estate Services and Michael Hoeck, Andie Wilson and Brad Bonkowski of NAI Alliance Carson City, representing VIP Rubber and Plastic and the seller, respectively, in the transaction.