Jim:  Our molds have to be differentiated in several ways to compete in the Global arena. We have always been different by size (very large) and type of work (compression & low pressure injection molding) and customer base, like the outboard motor industry, farm equipment manufacturing and construction industries, rather than commodity-type work. Plus we always saw the international markets as an opportunity!

Jim: It seemed in the late 60’s that “plastics” had a great future, as metals were being replaced by plastics, lower cost tooling could produce good products.  An early project was to manufacture molds for the Corvette in the mid-60’s (a plastic car). 

Tim: I got into it pretty much the same as Jim did.  We were both in the mechanical industries before the mold industry (I got into it in January 1970) and it just grew as an interesting and challenging business.

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

Jim:  Probably what we talk about above, in question #3.  It is very challenging for smaller companies to export. The costs of procuring the work, and travel, and the language problems, and finding a good agent, etc., plus the changes in currencies!  Now, in Italy, for example, it costs me U.S.$1.30 to buy one Euro, and on my last trip it was $1 to 1!!  This makes it easy to export to Europe as 1 Euro buys $1.30 worth of stuff. These changes are challenges (or opportunities) if you take advantage of the situations.  The Mexican peso changed years ago from 3 to one dollar to 10 to one dollar. Imagine that! 

Tim:  It takes a full-time dedicated person to create the partnerships and operate globally.  People think they can do this as a part-time job but you can’t.  Plus it is a very expensive undertaking.  In addition, if you are trying to sell a tool to an outside country that is already less expensive than what you can build the mold for, you have to be able to offer the customer something that they can’t get overseas.  Our advantage is the complete solution we provide via partnerships and the cumulative knowledge of how to do something our foreign competitors don’t yet know how to do.

Tim:  We stay on the cutting edge of the technology that’s out there, we understand how critical time to market is and are always evaluating how quickly we can do a product design and get a part into production.

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

Tim:  We took over a 15,000-square-foot building located next to our main facility in order to add secondary fixture manufacturing as a value added service.  So in addition to designing and building molds we can also take on designing and building of fixtures such as punch equipment, cooling fixtures, trim fixtures, check fixtures and more.  We did some of this already in our main plant, but we’re expanding on it to meet our customers’ needs.

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

AMBA, SPI, SPE, SME, and several World Trade associations.  We are looking into the high schools ourselves and are thinking of implementing our own training programs because so many of the traditional technical programs are closing or downsizing.

Jim:  Global competition has put a lot of pressure on the entire industry to compress delivery times, add more value to the customer’s process, and to seek longer value chains, such as going into related services to add more value for our customers. 

Tim:  It’s not too technical.  What I say is if people are looking to buy tooling, it was a little heavier push to do so overseas two years ago than it is now.  There still is a push by all of your major companies to buy tooling overseas.  If, as a U.S. company, we’re going to be doing some of the product design then we can put a lot of value added features into the service that they (foreign competitors) can’t.  That’s our competitive advantage.  But to go head to head with them on products that are already fully designed, good luck.  They’re going to get better overseas so we are always looking for ways to differentiate ourselves. 

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

Jim:  Consolidations will continue, and as stated above, we must constantly look for ways to be a “Service” industry.  Actually, manufacturing should be thought of as a "service" more & more because it is a way to do more for the customer rather than just mold work.  For example, do product designs, prototype, start up training, mold sample parts – anything to get the customer up to speed faster.  Quick to market is the key thing.  Minco Tool (Meadville, PA) saw this years ago and went 24/7 in their shop to compress delivery times any way they could! It’s sort of like a "whatever it takes" attitude, so you can do more for your customer with your customer's customer in mind.