A peek behind our 2013 ranking of North American thermoformers

Plastics News publishes our 2013 ranking of North American thermoformers in today's print issue, so let's take the opportunity to look at the numbers behind the ranking.

In print, we rank the top 100, but online (plasticsnews.com/rankings/thermoformers ) we've got full data for 224 companies.

The three big changes this year were that Silgan Plastic Food Containers acquired Rexam Containers Union, MO business in 2012, CW Thomas Inc. acquired previously ranked Analytic Plastics Inc. and Dart Container Corp. acquired Solo Cup Co. in 2012.

2012 average sales were up 2 percent from 2011 sales figures and 2012 average employees were also up 2 percent over the average of 2011.

New to the Top 10: Peninsula Packaging Co. LLC, which ranked No. 10 with sales of $175 million.

Welcome back to the Top 10: Georgia-Pacific LLC, which ranked No 9 with sales of $180 million

New to the ranking this year: Franks Manufacturing Co. Inc. of San Antonio, Texas, Accell Plastics Inc. of Auburn, Wash. and CW Thomas Inc. of Philadelphia, Penn.

Looking for companies that are "moving on up?" These companies showed the most growth in our Top 100:

1. DM Sales & Engineering Co. Inc., with sales of $13.20 million, ranked No. 71, moving up 26 spots from last year.
2. Plastic Package Inc., with sales of $12 million, ranked No. 76, moving up 11 spots from last year.
3. Robinson Industries Inc., with sales of $20 million, ranked No. 52, moving up 11 spots from last year.
4. General Plastics Inc., with sales of $10.1 million, ranked No. 86, moving up 10 spots from last year.
5. Portage Plastics Corp., with sales of $19.5 million, ranked No. 55, moving up 10 spots from last year.
6. Travel Star Products, with sales of $12 million, ranked No. 76, moving up 7 spots from last year.
7. Advanced Plastiform Inc., with sales of $13 million, ranked No. 72, moving up 7 spots from last year.
8. Cadillac Products Automotive Co., with sales of $51 million, ranked No. 31, moving up 6 spots from last year.
9. Hampel Corp., with sales of $31.5 million, ranked No. 37, moving up 6 spots from last year.
10. Universal Plastics Corp., with sales of $10.1 million, ranked No. 86, moving up 6 spots from last year.

Want more information? In addition to what we publish, we also offer the full rankings data for sale in the Plastics News Store. The thermoformers rankings -- and all our rankings & lists -- include full ranking data, with downloads including address information for plant locations.

If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, we would like to include you next time. Just sent a note to Lisa Pyles at lpyles@crain.com or mail your information to Plastics News, 1725 Merriman Road, Akron, Ohio 44313.

Thanks to Lisa Pyles for today's peek behind the data -- and to both Lisa and Hollee Keller for their research on this year's project.