About Plastic Components

  • January 7, 2008

    • Three molders make cut


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    Three small custom injection molding companies will vie for the Plastics News Processor of the Year Award. A team of judges has selected three finalists: Donnelly Custom Manufacturing Inc. of Minnesota, Innovative Injection Technologies Inc. of Iowa, and Wisconsin-based Plastic Components Inc.

    This marks the third straight year Innovative Injection Technologies, known as i2Tech, has been a finalist for Processor of the Year Award. The winner will be announced March 11, at the Plastics News Executive Forum at Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Fla. The finalists and winner will be honored at a ceremony and reception that evening. The following morning, a senior executive from each finalist company will Participate in a best-practices panel discussion.

    Plastics News will Profile the winning processor in the March 17 issue. This marks the 12th year for the award, which honors excellence in well-rounded companies by looking at seven criteria: financial performance, quality, customer relations, employee relations, environmental performance, industry and public service, and technological innovation.

    Last year’s winner was Mack Molding Co. of Arlington, Va. The judges are members of Plastics News’ editorial staff. The new co-sponsor of the award, Chicago-based Blaige & Co. LLC, helped analyze the financial performance of the nominees.

    Plastic Components Inc.

    PCI is the smallest of the three finalists, with $11.3 million in 2007 sales. But the Germantown, Wis., company is making a name for itself as a small molder that has figured out how to survive, and prosper, in a harsh global marketplace. PCI has its own motto: "Low cost at home" — as in Wisconsin, not China.

    Its markets are diverse, including automotive, plumbing, small engine components, hand and power tools, appliance, electrical and water-treatment applications. That broad product mix — no one market is more than 20 percent of total business — helps PCI weather downturns.

    The company created a Customer Advisory Council in 2006, to get input to help improve operations. Customers contacted by the judges had good things to say. One purchasing agent praised PCI for openness and honesty, even to acknowledge previous failures. "It has been that way since day one, and I feel I am an important customer. They are my number one supplier," he said.

    An official at another customer said President Tom Duffey "made it his personal mission" to fix the relationship with her company. Duffey started Plastic Components in 1989, back in the days when most plastics plants still had an operator on every press, opening and closing the gate. From the beginning. the company was fully automated.

    Today, thanks to robots and conveyors, PCI employs just 56 people but runs 39 small-tonnage Toyo and Nissel injection presses. That includes a stable of five all-electric Nissei machines. The company has developed a molding strategy that allows fully automated operation, around the clock, with no direct labor in the manufacturing process. The employees are process engineers, molding quality technicians and materiai handlers who bring raw material to each press and take molded parts to the warehouse.

    An automated plant set PCI apart through the 1990s, as it focused on a customer base within a 50-mile radius of Germantown. Then in 2002, PCI installed IQMS software to monitor the entire plant. The company also moved to source molds from China, to cut costs for customers. But that had a U.S. twist, too — PCI bought a small mold maker in Menomonee Falls, Wis to rework molds from China, or build U.S.-made molds on a tight deadline.

    After losing some work to overseas molders, PCI in 2005 hired Teresa Schell as marketing manager — another progressive move for a small molder. She launched a formal marketing effort that included starting the customer council. PCI Is very strong on public and industry service. Duffey is taking a leadership role in the industry. A frequent speaker, he is this year’s president of the Indianapolis-based Mid-America Plastic Partners, as well as a board member.

    The company also is active in the Germantown Manufacturers Alliance, which raises public awareness of manufacturing. In the community, about half of PCI’s employees ran, walked or volunteered at a run for the local Children’s Hospital. A food drive netted 58 pounds of food per employee.

    Originally published in the Plastics News.

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