The TPR interviewed T.J. Donlin, President of Comet Die & Engraving Co. in Elmhurst, IL.  Comet Die is a full-service plastic injection mold and die cast die manufacturing company.

What is your company niche, and what does your company do that is notable, unique or different?

For the most part, anything that needs to happen to a mold, we can do it in-house.  In addition to building injection molds and tools for die casting, we engrave, polish, gun-drill, and texture tools.  That way, I can keep my costs down and control my deliveries.  We do a lot of business for other mold makers.  My competitors are also my customers.

Our team is very knowledgeable about both injection molds and die cast dies. The interesting thing about die casting is that every die caster is different; and each is very specific about what he wants.  The toolmaker rarely is allowed to do anything different from what the die caster is used to.  But we work well with our customers and I think they appreciate our ability to manufacture a quality tool.

In terms of a niche, we don’t have just one.  We’re very well rounded and serve many different industries.  To give our customers more tailored services, I have engineers that exclusively handle plastic injection mold projects and those that handle only die cast dies.

When and how did you get into the industry, what attracted you to it?

Comet is run by my brother, Michael, and me.  We are fourth generation – the company is 107 years old and was started by my great-grandfather.  I can’t speak for my brother but for myself I don’t remember thinking I’d do anything else.  I worked here while in school, during breaks and holidays, and today I handle mainly sales for the company, though I did go through some formal AMBA training programs.  My brother did complete mold maker training and is also a sales engineer.

Relate a notable "best time" for your company.

In the last 20 years, the mid to late 1990’s was a very good time for our company.  At that time, Asian competition was not a factor and we had a very large chunk of the business that was to be had out there.  We had gotten into the realm of high speed machinery faster than most other shops so we were very, very busy and very profitable. 

Similarly, relate notable challenges that your company has overcome.

The largest challenge that we’ve had to overcome is our overseas competition.  Part of that, or a result of that competition, is the lack of good, qualified toolmakers.  They left the trade and have no interest in coming back.  It’s been a struggle to find qualified help and hold onto them. 

In terms of challenging customer projects, I had a customer that switched jobs and went to a new employer that manufactures milk crates.  They were not happy with their existing tooling because they were having a big problem with flash.  This customer got my engineering staff involved and we came up with a new design for locking in the side actions and built four two-cavity molds for them that ran with cycle times that were much faster than anything they previously had.  Those tools have been running for three years and, from what I understand, with not a speck of flash.  We’ve been able to generate a lot of business since then just from solving this problem for this customer. 

When you are working on projects with your customers, what aspects would you like them to better recognize?

What I’d like my customers to do is to utilize my engineering staff more – get us involved in the projects sooner.  I understand there is no guarantee I’ll get the jobs, we are willing to put forth that investment of our time and effort to ensure a project will run smoothly and save the customer money.  I don’t think mold buyers get the mold maker involved soon enough.  All I’m asking is for a fair shot at getting an order in exchange for utilizing my knowledgeable engineering staff.

List newly acquired technology, machinery or key personnel (in last year).

It’s been more on the machinery end lately.  We’ve purchased some additional high speed milling machines for cutting graphite electrodes and separate machines for cutting steel.  We also purchased a new wire EDM about 9 months ago, and we are contemplating buying one of those 5-axis milling machines and a second gun drill.

Has your company recently expanded?  Plans to expand or form partnerships/alliances?

Yes.  What we have done to try to compete with Asia is ally Comet with two mold companies in Costa Rica.  My first priority is to get business for my men in Elmhurst, IL, so I’m not doing this just to place molds down in Costa Rica.  My goal in doing that is if I have a four mold package to quote I might be able to get part of that package built here and part in Costa Rica.  I’m using the mold shops in Costa Rica as a way to get more business that I might not be getting without them.  I’m able to offer a very good product at a price close to what the Chinese would quote, and will guarantee the Costa Rican molds in the U.S. When molds are built in China, the mold buyer cannot send them back to China for waranteeable items due to shipping expenses and the time involved.  In addition, shipping times for Costa Rican-built molds are one week as opposed to four for molds built in China.  Costa Rica is also very close in proximity so that I can be there in a very short amount of time to meet with customers or with the mold builders, plus it’s the same time zone, which is a bonus.  I’ve been doing this very successfully for two years now.  Costa Rica is the wealthiest Central American country and also the most educated.  Because of the amount of tourism they have there, they do speak English, though there are still people who don’t speak it.  The cities in northern Costa Rica are more likely to have English speaking populations because they are populated by people who moved there from the Caribbean islands to work in the banana industry and they speak English.  Spanish is the primary language everywhere else.

Are you involved in any industry organizations or educational programs related to the  trade?

We’re members of the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA), the Tooling & Manufacturing Association (TMA), the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and the North American Die Casting Association (NADCA).

What do you think about changes occurring in the industry due to globalization?  How  has it affected the way you do business?

When business was good, maybe once every two weeks or once a month you might get an auction flier about some company going out of business.  But once Asia came onto the scene, we were getting six or seven of those notices a week.  That downturn in business didn’t come on slowly; it came on abruptly and took U.S. manufacturers by surprise.

As for how our business has been affected, what globalization has done is create more competition amongst the U.S. mold makers to come up with better, faster and less expensive ways to build tools.  It’s caused us to slash mold delivery times and it’s made the U.S. companies that are still around stronger and more efficient because we have to be in order to survive.

What will the industry look like in 3 to 5 years? 

I think it will be very similar to what it is now.  What I noticed on those auction fliers I mentioned earlier was that it was the companies that did not invest in new, high speed equipment that were closing their doors.  Those of us that did invest in the high speed equipment have been able to stay around and we are the most likely to continue.  I don’t see any new companies forming in the U.S., but I don’t see many more of them leaving or closing their doors either.

Additional background information:                      

Number of years in business:  107 years.  Comet Die & Engraving Company was first established in 1898 as a hand engraving company.  Using chisels and hammers they would engrave brass embossing dies.  The company introduced machine engraving in the 1950’s and in the late 1950’s through the 1970’s it specialized in duplicating mold cavities and cores for other mold makers.  By the 1980’s the company began building tooling itself.

Current number of employees:  70

Current square footage (each location):  About 50,000 square feet

Additional locations:  None at this time.

Website:  www.cometdie.com

Types of tools built and/or run:  Medium to large injection molds (200 ton to 3,000 ton) and die cast dies

Industries served:  Appliances, housewares, POP Display industry, lawn & garden, automotive and a variety of other industries.

Contact Information:

COMET DIE AND ENGRAVING COMPANY
909 Larch Avenue
Elmhurst, IL 60126
Phone:  630-833-5600
Fax:  630-833-2644
Email:  info@cometdie.com