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1) |
What is your company niche and what does your company do that is
notable,
unique or different?
 The company’s mission statement is
“To be our Customer’s Most Trusted Business Partner.” We offer
full service without the cost and overhead of larger firms because
we have aligned ourselves with other specialized smaller shops,
painters, pad printers, platers and others who enhance our product
and service offerings.
Dale: Being a moldmaker our goal
was to build molds but over the years, as we’ve evolved with the
times, we now have a tooling division for repairs and maintenance,
or to address engineering changes. We probably job out 95% of new
tooling.
Steve: We receive feedback
from most of our customers on the services we provide that make
their products better, r educe
costs and ultimately make their projects successful. We have
a strong engineering and tooling group that provides a lot of up
front knowledge and information to our customers. We believe
this is exceptionally important and helps our customers believe in
our ability to perform at a level that makes us a
valuable resource. We don’t
always get the programs we quote on, of
course, but our customers have come to
appreciate the fact that we’re
willing to take a look and offer ways to improve on projects.
Bob: Another way we serve our
customers is that we take the position that if they want to send a
product back because something isn’t quite right, we’ll take it
with no argument. We strive very hard to make easy for them to get
what they need when they need it. We have many systems in place
that help ensure a quality outcome with our products, but if
something isn’t right we’ll make it right. |
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2)
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When and how did you get into the industry, what attracted you to
it?
Dale: I started the company in
1988. At the time I was working as a moldmaker at Phillips
Plastics. I actually served my apprenticeship there. In 1989,
Wade came along. We had worked with each other at Phillips. We
recognized that there was a need for our services in our local
community and that, with our combined skill sets, we could provide
a much-needed service, particularly in the door and window profile
segment. There were no other
injection molders here other than Phillips. So we just got this
company going with a ‘whatever it takes’ attitude. The big thing,
I guess, was the motivation of wanting to have our own business and
there were a few
 opportunities presented to us that helped make it
possible. Our first customer was
WeatherShield, a local window and door manufacturer. At that point
in time, there were a lot of window companies based in central
Wisconsin, so we started chasing that business because we saw it as
a viable market to get into. We just grew from there.
Bob Lange joined the company in late 1992 as the third
partner bringing with him an administrative and financial
background. This ultimately helped to round out the talents
between the three owners as to their own areas of expertise and
knowledge. |
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3) |
Relate a notable "best time" for your company.
Every year we find reason to
celebrate a “best time” and we put particular focus on our
employees with an “Annual Employee Appreciation Week”.
Steve: There’s a means for
ownership to really take stock in what our employees do for us.
We’ll have ice cream sundae day, pizza day, etc. and culminate the
week with a formal event in which we cater a big dinner and
everyone goes home with a prize. They then get Friday of that week
off.
Dale: We held our 11th
Annual Employee Appreciation Week in Medford this year. When we
first started this we had a lot of fishermen working for us, so we
chose to celebrate during the week that coincided with the opening
day of fishing season, which is the first week of May. A lot
of the
guys just loved it. We’ve
maintained it like that every since. This year
was the first year we held this event at our El
Paso facility, but the following week. Prizes range from about $50
to several
hundred dollars.
Steve: We also have a grand prize
on top of all the individual prizes. Everyone’s name gets
thrown back into the hat for the grand prize.
Dale: Yea, previously we gave away
vacation packages.
Wade: Most of the trips were either
to popular spots in Wisconsin or to Las Vegas. Now we’ve made it
more user-friendly by just awarding cash and our employees really
like that because they can do anything they want with it. |
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4) |
Similarly, relate notable challenges that your company has
overcome. 
Wade: We’ve continually shown
our pride in takeover tooling.
If a customer comes to us and they are struggling with
another molder, we’ve been able to make a smooth transition
of the project to our care without shutting the project down
much, if at all, and make an immediate impact.
Dale: A lot of times when we get a
problem job, we do more than just take these jobs and make them
run. We have that transition, but we make improvements on them,
too. We keep their tools in production while also trying to get
them some cost-savings down the road.
Steve: Being able to take a
customer’s problem jobs and make them successful is a source of
pride and it’s helped build a positive reputation at Wadal. There
are a lot of companies out there that will walk away from takeover
tooling because they believe it’s just too much trouble to take
on. But we invite these jobs as an opportunity and a challenge.
It is a way to prove ourselves in the field and win new customers
as a result.
Other challenges have included
growing out of our initial surroundings, building a new facility
and then expanding into El Paso Texas due to diverse opportunities
and growth. Currently the resin market is creating numerous
challenges also.
Wade: Rising resin prices do
present challenges; our customers are starting to push back a
little – as they are for most molders. On the other hand,
some resin prices seem to be sliding back a little, while others
continue to rise. We watch the
 market closely and
we’re trying to pass the costs along when we can. We also
look to buy materials better and just meet the challenges to the
best of our ability.
Bob: Where we haven’t been able to
pass increases on, it has caused us having to deal with layoffs and
other such measures. Lean measures – what we call ‘phase one’ –
have been implemented internally. We’re well aware that there
could be a ‘phase two’ before it all washes out. We don’t enjoy
having to take these steps, but it’s necessary if we are to remain
competitive. |
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5)
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When you are working on projects with your customers, what aspects
would you like them to
better recognize?
The total value we bring to a
project or an organization. We believe we deliver much more than
just a tool and plastic part. We offer ideas, solutions,
partnership and cost-reducing efforts for both parties.
Bob: I would simply refer back to
our mission statement. It seems on the front end when a customer
wants to get a project going and we’re building relationships,
challenging things happen like resin prices rising or an upstep in
certifications that customers require. It all of a sudden becomes
just a price issue. It takes working together through good and bad
times to make successful partnerships and that’s what we strive for
by providing services that transcend the price issues.
Dale: What I do a lot is try to
steer the customer in the right direction, particularly with regard
to project revisions. If the customer calls up with revisions I
work with him to evaluate the changes before we just jump in to do
them. I want them to realize that we can charge them more money
for implementing these changes, or we can do it like this [I’ll
show them an alternative] and possibly save money – We don’t want
to spend bad money if we don’t have to. Hopefully as a result our
customers will evaluate up front and avoid costly changes that may
not be necessary.
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6) |
List newly acquired technology, machinery or
key personnel (in last
year).
We have added “RJG E-Dart, Melt
Flipper, Moldflow, Dedicated Manufacturing Engineering and Program
Managers
Steve: RJG – There are a lot of
molders out there and molding machines today have many intricate
systems. RJG is helping us to install finite process controls that
will look for 100% good parts, reducing scrap and rejection rates
and improving the quality of the parts we send our customers. We
have two molds and one machine we’ve been working with RJG on since
October. It’s been an opportunity for us to tie this technology in
with our robotics in order to segregate the good from bad parts and
improve our overall processes.
Melt Flipper allows us to better
balance the resin fill of multi cavity or family tooling and
control the quality of the product. It also allows us to
reduce total tooling costs for the customer. We have
Melt Flipper in most of our tooling and it is
 designed
into each tool.
Moldflow is not very commonly seen
with molders of our size because it’s relatively expensive, but
we believe it adds value to our customers’ projects and helps us
better service them.
Dedicated Manufacturing Engineers
and Program Managers have helped us reduce costs, improve
processes, cycle times and overall efficiencies, plus further
implement automation. They’ve even worked with our employees on
ergonomic issues and act as account managers with our strategic
partners.
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7)
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Has your company recently expanded? Plans to expand or form
partnerships/alliances?
Steve: We recently added an
operation in 2003 in El Paso and already doubled the floor space
there in the past 3 months. Our main alliances are with our
customers. We have a couple of new alliances in the works but
nothing we can disclose at this time.
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8) |
Are you involved in any industry organizations or educational
programs related to the trade?
Steve: We are members of the SPE
and SPI, and we participate in local youth work study programs.
WPI is very strong in supporting the community as a whole.
The school here in town has a very solid apprenticeship program.
There are many students that don’t really want to go to college,
but they don’t know what they want to do for a career either. We
have youth programs where kids can come and work in our tool room
and get a taste of what it’s like to work in this field. The
trades today are very viable for young people – if the kids have a
chance to get some exposure to them. |
9)
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What do you think about changes occurring in the industry due to
globalization? How has it
affected the way you do business?
 Steve: a lot of it just tees us
off, but the reality of it is that we have to deal as a worldwide
organization. It has forced us to be the best at what we do.
Through technology, ingenuity, robotics and automation, we have
literally been able to compete with China on a number of different
programs. It is becoming harder to do that due to rising resin
prices, but we can do a whole variety of things to take labor and
overhead out of the equation. There are stories out there about
how customers might be able to buy materials over in China a little
cheaper. It doesn’t feel like we’re playing on a level playing
field sometimes. We’ve really had to cut spending, reduce overhead
and reduce labor. It eats heavily into the bottom line for
molders.
Globalization enticed us to open our
El Paso Operation. A great number of companies left and went to
Mexico and then on to China seeking lower cost production. We have
seen a large number of companies come back to Mexico after
experiencing those long boat rides and other delays/problems with
China. We were able to take advantage of that.
Dale: There’s a big learning curve
for us and for the customer. Customers are more aware of the
challenges of having tooling built and run over in China. Prices
are actually starting to go up over there now, too, and they aren’t
as competitive as they used to be. It’s actually getting to be
where their numbers aren’t as attractive. If we can save 20% to
30% for our customers, it could win us a project over China and
it’s happening more and more. We provide shorter lead times and
it’s a lot more convenient, too, for our customers to work with us
instead. |
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10)
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What will the industry look like in 3 to 5 years?
Steve: We believe the industry will
continue to move forward, however resin supply and demand (PRICE)
will affect this growth as a whole. We tend to believe that based
on the services we provide customers that we will continue to
grow. We also believe there are a great number of molders out
there that are closing their doors. Those that are investing in
new technologies and tightening their belts will survive and
succeed. We plan to be one of them.
Bob: We as a team have been
considering adding or expanding to our base by getting involved
with the development of some proprietary products in the near
future. |
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Additional Background Information |
Number of years in business: 16
Current number of employees: 71
Current square footage (each
location): 20,000 each facility
Additional locations: Medford WI –
Corporate and El Paso TX (opened in 2003)
Website:
www.wadalplastics.com
 Types of tools built and/or run:
Injection Molding including insert molding, gas Assist molding and
over molding
Industries served: Automotive,
Consumer, Lawn and garden, Medical
Contact
information:
WADAL Plastics, Inc.
949 S. Gibson St.
Medford, WI 54451
Ph 715-748-2227
Fax 715-748-1145
Email:
wadal@wadalplastics.com
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