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The
TPR interviewed Annette Lund, Vice President of Diversified
Plastics, Inc. in Minneapolis. DPI specializes in
close-tolerance, small to medium-sized injection molded
components. Its customers praise the company for its high level
of professionalism and quality – and its ability to tackle
projects others won’t touch. Lund explains how the company has
positioned itself as an industry leader.
What is your
company niche and what does your company do
that is notable, unique or different?
 We
are a quality injection molder featuring small to medium-sized
parts in small to medium-sized runs. Our projects run no more
than two weeks at a time. We have extensive experience in high
performance resins such as PPS, PEEK and even Torlon® polyamide-imide,
for which you have to be certified by the manufacturer (Solvay
Advanced Polymers) to run. I believe we are one of only two
companies in Minnesota certified to run Torlon. We are unique
because we take on jobs that are very complicated. Our list of
difficult projects includes those that our competitors were not
capable or willing to do for companies such as 3M, SPX and
Recovery Engineering. You may recall that Recovery Engineering
used to make PUR ®, the water filter for your faucet (Proctor &
Gamble manufactures it now).
When and how did
you get into the industry, what attracted you to it?
Excitingly
enough, the company started in 1977, so we’re approaching our 30th
anniversary. The company was started initially because, at the
time, plastics was a growth industry. That has changed now, but
we’re still succeeding and growing.
Personally, I
started working here 27 years ago as a part-time receptionist.
I’ve moved up the ladder since then and have done just about
everything for the company, except moldmaking, over the years.
My main job now is sales and marketing. This industry is very
exciting and I especially enjoy the times when I can tour
manufacturing plants and see how products are being made.
Relate a notable "best time" for your company.
It was really
fun when the company was young and there were only 13
employees. We all took turns doing the various jobs and chores
and there was lots of teamwork. That same teamwork philosophy
applies today, but we’re a lot bigger now and the dynamics are
different. Another notable time was when we were selected as
the 2004 Manufacturer of the Year by the Manufacturers
Alliance. Also, when we were ISO certified in 1994, we were
told that we were the first plastic company of our size to be UL
certified in the country. Diversified Plastics was on the
cutting edge and very proud of it, too.
Similarly, relate notable challenges that your company has
overcome.
The PUR ® water
filter project stands out. There were a total of about 10 or 12
molds involved in making that product. We were quoting
everything but the housing at first, but then the customer came
to us and told us that if we wanted to be awarded the other
molds, we had to quote the housing as well. None of the local
mold shops would quote this part because of its difficult
design. The customer had designed bosses on the inside of the
housing and internal threads so when the unscrewing mechanism
engaged, the bosses would
 break
off. DPI uniquely designed a way for the mechanism to be
separated from the inside core, backing it off a bit, so that
the bosses would stay intact and the mold operated perfectly.
All of this was done without hydraulics. It worked so well
that when the customer wanted to change the project from a
four-cavity to an eight-cavity mold, which unfortunately was too
large for us to handle then, the new molder requested the use of
our tool designs. They were so impressed in how we resolved
this difficult issue they wanted to copy it for the larger
mold.
Another example
of how we meet challenges is when we worked with SPX on their
clutch alignment tool. They wanted us to sonically weld two
pieces together that were manufactured from 30% glass-filled
nylon. The difficulty is that glass doesn’t weld, creating a
huge problem. These alignment tools are used with clutch plates
in large trucks which can weigh up to 300 lbs. SPX needed a
very strong part and a strong weld to hold these plates in place
while they are being installed. DPI was able to work through
this problem and create a good part for our customer.
Another case
study example involving a professional foosball table is
available on our website. You may not think building a better
foosball table would be complicated, but that project challenged
all of our capabilities – and we learned a little something
about the sport of foosball, too.
When
you are working on projects with your customers, what aspects
would you like them to better recognize?
 We
really would like our customers and prospective customers to
call us in during the design stage. This is the best time for
our assistance with determining the manufacturability of a
project, including perhaps a better design, thus saving time and
tooling costs. If we know how the part is going to be used, we
can help make the part stronger or create a better design for
the injection molding process. We also offer decorating,
machining and assembly services, along with packaging, insert
molding and more, which adds value to a project and can often
save them time or money. It’s amazing how even long-time
customers can overlook some of the value-added services we
offer.
List newly acquired
technology, machinery or key personnel (in last year).
 What
has been exciting for us is the creation of a R&D department. Doug Ruckle is now the Engineering Manager in charge of research and
development. Part of his job, in addition to getting our
tooling up and running faster and project management, is
researching better ways to build and run molds. He is exploring
new technologies which may be added to our expertise in the
future. Mike Bartell was hired as the Toolroom Manager to
replace Doug. Mike has extensive experience with designing
molds, as well as supervisory capabilities. These personnel
changes have been a great addition to the benefits we offer our
customers.
We also recently
purchased a new Milacron 550-ton press with a shot size of 41
oz. This additional machine has expanded our capabilities
toward larger parts.
Has
your company recently expanded? Plans to expand or form
partnerships/alliances?
 Yes.
We moved into our current building in 2000, which was built to
our specifications and with plans for growth. A portion of the
building was leased to another tenant. Currently we are using
about 33,000 square feet. However, in September we will
take over another 9,000 square feet to add a cleanroom, room for
additional growth in the molding area, and more storage area.
Many of our customers are asking us to inventory their parts for
them. We ship to one particular customer 365 days a year
(including holidays) and this is spurring the expansion.
We also ship to
customers in Singapore, Sweden, Mexico and Spain and are further
investigating opportunities for business internationally. A
partnership with a Chinese firm is being pursued.
Are you involved
in any industry organizations or educational programs related to
the trade?
We’re heavily
involved in the Manufacturers Alliance, a local organization
that was started several years ago for networking and idea
sharing. It’s a wonderful organization, and it now offers
classes on 5S, lean and other popular manufacturing processes
and practices. We are in the process of implementing 5S in our
plant, for the second time, and it’s been very successful this
time.
What do you think
about changes occurring in the industry due to globalization?
How has it affected the way you do business?
 The
industry feels differently than it did 10 years ago. I think we
have to jump onto the international bandwagon and we’re
investigating offshore opportunities at this time. We are
losing some business just because there is more manufacturing
being done in the low cost regions of the world. It’s hard to
fight it when our customers are building more manufacturing
plants overseas.
Our plastic
prices match offshore sources but we are losing some tooling
orders based on price. To fight this trend, we have found an
offshore tooling source with plants in China and Taiwan. If a
customer wants this type of mold, we are able to submit a quote
from this source and save them 20%-25% on the tool. I know
that’s not a huge savings compared to what other companies might
offer. That’s because our source uses American-made steel,
components and mold bases. We insist on that. When the mold
gets here we know we can replace the parts without having to
custom make them ourselves. It took a while to find this
tooling source, and they are not the cheapest, but they produce
the level of quality in tooling that we require for our
customers.
What will the
industry look like in 3 to 5 years?
I think a lot of
commodity products – and the tooling for them – will be made
somewhere other than in the U.S., but what we’ll bring to the
party is highly technical, high quality products with a fast
response time. As far as lead time goes, I don’t see any
advantage to building molds in Asia because it can take days
just to get a design approved. Communication is a huge issue
with the time difference. The U.S. will need to find a way to
be competitive in the new world economy.
Additional
background information:
 Number
of years in business: 30 years in 2007
Current
number of employees: approximately 70
Current
square footage (each location): 33,000 square feet; soon to
be 42,000 in September
Additional
locations: None at this time, although company does have
independent sales reps in Illinois, Michigan, Texas and North
Carolina
Website:
www.divplast.com
Types of
tools built and/or run: A variety of tooling from one to 16
cavities, unscrewing, hot manifolds – just about everything but
stack molds.
Industries
served: Filtration, medical, automotive, electronics and
more.
Contact
Information:
Diversified Plastics, Inc.
(& Design Tool and Engineering, a subsidiary est. 1984)
8617 Xylon Court North
Minneapolis, MN 55445
Phone:
763.424.2525
Fax: 763.488.7145
Email:
sales@divplast.com
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