About Plastic Components

  • July 1, 2007

    • Global Market Challengers - Plant Tour


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    A fully automated custom molder called Plastic Components Inc. (PCI) that started in a 10,000-ft2 facility in Germantown, WI in 1989 with three presses runs 40 molding machines today under a 40,500-ft2 roof. No, it never switched to processes like multimolding or insert molding or even assembly. It banks its successful growth on its ability to identify the markets, customers, and jobs that fit within its “sweet spot,” according to Thomas O. Duffey, president.

    “For every two-shot component out there today, there are 100 plain-vanilla, single-shot parts,” says Duffey. “We’ve never deviated from our singular focus on fully automated manufacturing. We simply want to be the best in the world at what we do.”

    PCI’s customers include Milwaukee Electric Tool, Delphi, Eaton, Siemens, Moen, Briggs & Stratton, Electrolux, and Pentair. “We’re not hungry. We’re looking for long-term, mutually beneficial strategic relationships with new customers,” says Teresa Schell, marketing manager. PCI mostly molds engineering plastics, and . . . wait a minute! A custom molder of plain-vanilla, single-shot parts in the U.S. heartland that’s growing? What about China? Impossible? Let’s tour.

    Born automated

    After a chat in PCI’s stylish conference room, complete with a 95-gal saltwater fish tank, we enter the climate-controlled molding area, looking down at its polished concrete flooring and up at its bright, high-powered fluorescent lighting. But where is everyone? “We were fully automated from day one,” says Duffey. “We only have a seven-person team for 40 machines—three process technicians, two materials handlers, and two quality technicians - but absolutely no machine operators.”

    Each PCI press operates in a fully automated cell equipped with standardized auxiliaries: robots from Yushin America; dryers from Novatec (PCI runs more engineering materials than commodities); underpress parts conveyors from Mini Mover; box conveyors from Molding Automation Concepts; and Rapid granulators.

    “We look for equipment that will improve the quality of life around the shop and improve utilization from the standpoint of the machines and our floor space,” says John Honkanen, operations manager. Maguire blenders also are standard, as are Moldflow’s Altanium hot runner controls and customized packaging carts from Harvard Factory Automation. All machine utilities are from overhead. Resin distribution is decentralized. Of course, there are folks on the floor-rotating three-shift teams for each machine, in fact. PCI does five mold changes/shift and regularly pulls molds for about 2 hr/month for checking and cleaning.

    Then we spot it—a computer monitor out on the shop floor. The screen looks familiar. “IQMS?” we ask, pointing. “IQMS controls everything here,” Honkanen says. Really? We return to the conference room.

    Running blindfolded

    “It’s all about the manufacturing process,” says Don Cento, VP, joining us. “Within three days of coming to work here in 2001, I told Tom we needed a new ERP software package.” Cento says PCI used to have a “software smorgasbord.” Simple revisions went through a half-dozen different systems. “We worked through an accounting firm to search for a new software package and after nine months of research, we went live with IQMS on Oct. 1, 2002.” He says they settled on it largely because of its ease of use and all the practical modules it has, including the IQMS Mold PM software, which monitors molds as they’re running.

    “It resulted in the maturation of our organization,” Cento says. “Anyone can put in software—how it sings is what matters. Everyone wants to identify those pieces of information available that will help them run their business and improve quality of life. ERP takes that burden out of your hands and puts it into a system.” Schell says IQMS recently chose to feature PCI in an online success story (see www.iqms.com/company/pci/index.html). “We can quote parts within 5 minutes and run the business within pennies of what we’ve got, thanks to IQMS,” says Duffey. “Out of the five strategic decisions that have gotten us to where we are today, I’d say our selection of IQMS is in the top two or three. With it, we can run this business blindfolded.”

    Savings solutions

    On our way to the toolroom, pausing to admire a 300-ton Nissei equipped with a high-performance DuPont/Spirex ELCee screw, Duffey tells us PCI has standardized on two marques he’s found to be very reliable—Toyo hydraulics and Nissei all-electrics. The company runs 35 hydraulic Toyos (35-200 tons) and five Nissei all-electrics (a 55-tonner, two 90-ton presses, and the 300-ton machine). All of its processes are John Bozzelli-validated—the folks at PCI are Scientific Molders.

    PCI has about 500-600 active molds and its toolroom is well equipped. We ask Duffey if his company builds its own molds. His answer? “Yes and no. We can make molds here from scratch, if need be. Or, we can source molds from China and make sure they run the way they should.” Really? We return to the conference room.

    “Around 2001-2002, we were quoting an $.08 gear for one of our big customers. We’d never lost such work before. But, we quoted $54,000 in domestic tooling vs. a $28,000 Chinese tool and lost out. It happened again and again—not because of our part pricing, but because of tooling.” He unsuccessfully prospected different options in offshore sourcing before striking gold by meeting a domestic, factory-direct rep for Asian moldmakers—Jayde Assoc. (Warren, OH). But he wasn’t done.

    Asia answered

    As many North American molders have found, molds sourced from overseas sometimes require rework. Many here have allied themselves with domestic moldmakers to do the rework. PCI went one step further. It bought a local moldmaker. “It was a small five- to six-man shop in Menomonee Falls, WI. They were strong in tooling PM and provided a fast response to engineering changes. They saw the handwriting on the wall and when we approached them to buy them in 2003 the owner jumped all over it,” says Duffey. “Our quoting success rate has dramatically improved. Our customers gain the tremendous value of overseas tooling costs, plus our in-house toolroom safety net.” Cento adds, “And if the job involves a high level of complexity and intellectual property concerns, we can make the mold here from scratch.”

    The company performs Moldflow flow analysis and thorough analysis reviews with its customers on every part it runs and provides an eight-page APQP list with every product launch. “We’ve been profitable enough to expand, to make investments in technologies, and to buy a number one local toolmaker,” says Duffey. “We’ve never lost a part to China. As a matter of fact, we’re shipping parts to China. Our biggest challenge these days is replacing big customers that migrate offshore.”

    Dynamic marketing

    As we head back out into the shop, Duffey says the offshore exodus of some of PCI’s local customers about three years ago helped prompt its evolution away from being manufacturing-oriented to marketing-oriented. “We had to appeal to a broader market. That’s where Teresa and our sales guys come in,” he says. Schell, who has a background in the molding business, came on board at PCI in 2005. She has transformed PCI’s website into a platform for Internet marketing, involving e-mail, online quoting, newsletters, and letters from Duffey. She’s also launched a program of eye-to-eye meetings with customers to improve communications.

    “We continuously survey our customers for feedback to ensure we understand their views of our performance. We also seek their advice on how we can improve their quality of life things we may have overlooked,” says Schell. PCI only has 7500 ft2 for warehousing. Its IQMS system tells them how much they need and when to order more. “We’re truly a custom molder—we run more than 100 different resins and have 500 different part numbers,” says Honkanen. As previously reported, PCI has established an automatic electronic payment protocol with its preferred resins distributors, like PolyOne. Its invoicing to customers also is automated. It maintains only seven to eight days’ worth of finished goods inventory as well. Honkanen says, on average, PCI does 25-30 turns/year.

    Competitive commitments

    Before we say goodbye, Cento says, “We have an option to buy eight more large-tonnage presses and we can go 24/7, if necessary. We’re committed to reinvestment.” PCI also invests in its people. It has an active apprenticeship program. Most of its process engineers are graduates of the county’s technical college. PCI pays their way. “We want our people to look at our processes and say, ‘There’s a better way to do this,’” Cento says.

    “I love where we are as a business right now,” says Duffey. “We can determine our own fate and we don’t lose much work to our competitors. It’s a whole lot easier to complain about global competition today than it is to do something about it.” “We market ourselves as a low-cost producer,” adds Schell. “We can compete with China.”

    “The idea that North American manufacturers can no longer compete is wrong,” Duffey concludes. “The tools and technologies are available. Whether or not the commitment to succeed exists is up to us. We just have to make the proper strategic decisions. It can happen here.”

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