We make true microscopic or micro molded components. They might be micro in size or they might have micro features on larger molded parts. Our company molds the world’s smallest micro molded components at 520 parts per plastic pellet, which is about a quarter of a size of a grain of rice – or the size of Lincoln’s nose on a penny. Another way to think about it is that these parts are 0.00012 grams in weight. It is a three-dimensional shape with very small diameters. It’s hard to talk in inches when you are talking parts that small. We really have to speak in microns. We use an ejector pin that is 124 microns, which is about 0.0049”. The wall thickness of these parts is 30 microns or 0.0015” (a human hair is about 0.004” thick). Another part we make had a 75 micron (0.0029”) core pin that was manufactured for the micro fluidics industry – the process by which you control the smallest droplet of liquid possible. This is a whole huge, fairly new market that we’ve tapped into. The smallest feature we’ve ever molded is 0.5 microns, which I’ve never equated to inches but would say it must be about 0.000019”. That’s the smallest feature we have ever molded and it was manufactured for a “lab on a chip,” or a series of very small channels in a larger plastic part that the micro fluidics industry uses for blood analysis. These tiny sensors and lab chips are used in labs and homes to get immediate analysis of blood instead of sending it to a lab and waiting for the results.

What’s also notable is that our company builds the actual injection molds for these parts and does the molding, too. So everything is under one roof. There is only one other company in the U.S. that does what we do, meaning both tooling and molding. The micro market is very prevalent in Japan and Europe, however. About 90% of what we do is medical, such as the small pieces that go on the end of catheters, eye and ear implants, or surgical instruments and implants – a lot of that is micro molded and that’s where our concentration is.

3)    Relate a notable "best time" for your company.   

It would have to be about six years ago, when our customer came to us with the part I mentioned earlier that we mold 520 of per plastic pellet. My brother and I are both plastics engineers and we looked at this part and we were amazed. We gave it about a 25% chance of success. Prior to making this part in micromolding, our customer had to make this part with 17 assembly steps under a microscope (it now has two). As it turned out, the very first shot that came out of the mold we built was perfect. We figured that if we could succeed with that project, we can do just about anything in the micro industry and it really gave us the confidence to move forward in that realm.

I’ve been here for six years, but I can say that in the early 1980’s, we were the first company to purchase a wire EDM machine and explore that technology. That was also a “best time” for us. Many people came from all over the region to see what wire EDM was all about and to enlist our expertise in that technology. It changed the face of our company then just as micro molding and micro manufacturing is doing now. Our company was founded in 1972 on EDM and that is how we build our micro molds, using EDM technology in a completely different and unique market.

After we started with our niche six years ago, the economy was not so great, but we chose to keep everyone working that we had at the time. We did not lay anyone off. We focused everyone on research and development of micro. We used the time to our advantage as an investment in our future; we bit the bullet and just kept moving forward with the hope that it would be to our advantage to do so. Now, we feel very fortunate that we made the investment. Going through those lows is what helps your team get stronger, and we have really been enjoying our successes to date.

It was also challenging, as the company’s sales person, selling people on the micro technology. I spent a lot of time traveling around the country, trying to get people to start thinking outside of the box and showing them that they can make parts out of plastic that were traditionally made from metal. Now there are companies searching us out and instead of our “pushing” the technology, we’re working to keep up with the developing trends and customers’ ideas and projects. We still don’t know what the total market worth is for parts like this. I’m sure it is quite large.

Measurement is also a challenge. When you are talking about microns and fractions of a micron, it’s hard to gauge R&R between what our customer measures and what we measure. It can sometimes become a very lengthy process to make sure what we measure agrees with what they measure. It’s actually one of the most cumbersome parts of a job because the technology is so finite. We now talk about the process of measurement when we’re quoting the project to make sure equipment and part fixturing is compatible and there is an understanding of all the factors that go into it.

Auxiliary equipment has not really come up to speed yet and that presents certain challenges. Take the dryers, for example. We have hoppers that are 12 grams in size and the manufacturers of the dryer equipment haven’t had to deal with dryers this small. Water lines are also an interesting challenge where auxiliaries are concerned. We don’t use the standard, large sizes. We can’t. We have vendors customize it for us, but our hope is that as the industry grows, we’ll see demand rise for equipment and services that are marketed to micro.

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

We recently purchased an EDM machine that can make micro mold components even smaller than those we talked about earlier. The resolution of this machine is fractions of a millionth of an inch (0.0000001"). We can now micromold features that are 0.5 micron of an inch, 50 microns long. These features are common on MEMS chips and lab chip applications.

I think the new competition that’s out there has been a wakeup call for a lot of us. It forced us to redefine ourselves and figure out what we can do to compete. So we did that. We took the technology for what we knew how to do and made it better. It allowed us to think competitively and come up with a solution that will work and maybe the Chinese won’t have it for a few years. Competition is good; it forces you to do things differently. The only reason a process should go to Asia is when there is a lot of labor involved. If there isn’t a lot of labor it won’t be cheaper over there; it should stay here. I think a lot of people are fooling themselves about that factor because it’s not always cheaper to go overseas. Proprietary products especially should stay here as long as possible.

Globalization has affected every aspect of how we do business. Diversification will be a key focus for us in terms of markets, too. We’ll be planning 3 to 5 years into the future to ensure our company’s viability instead of just enjoying today’s “fat and happy times.”

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