Infinity founders buy control from Seitz

Carreno and Carroll now own a majority stake in Infinity, based in Logan Township, near Beckett, N.J. The remainder of the firm is split among four Infinity employees and Robert Schulz, the longtime leader of LNP Engineering Plastics who has joined Infinity as a board member and minority owner.

No purchase price was disclosed in the deal.

Infinity compounds a variety of engineering and high-temperature resins. Seitz Corp., a custom injection molder in Torrington, Conn., helped Carreno and Carroll launch Infinity in 2005. Seitz has been - and will remain - an Infinity customer, but the firm no longer is interested in keeping an ownership stake.

``With last year's senior management change at Seitz, it soon became apparent that Infinity's compounding business did not match with our strategic plan for growing our core business,'' said Michael Sullivan, Seitz president and chief executive officer, in a news release.

``The sale of Infinity will allow us to focus more resources on developing stronger relationships with our customer base.''

Carreno said Infinity's management team is excited about the opportunity to control its destiny. Infinity is on track to post sales of around $10 million in 2008, Carreno said in a telephone interview. That would represent an increase of 15-20 percent over the previous year.

``The gestation periods are long for the products that our materials are used in,'' Carreno said. ``So we're seeing results now from projects we started two years ago. There's been some slowdown, but we're still growing and doing well in spite of the weak economy.''

Infinity plans to install its fourth compounding line in late 2008 or early 2009, and plans to add five new employees this year as well. The firm currently employs 20 and operates more than 5 million pounds of compounding capacity at a 57,000-square-foot site.

Business machines remain Infinity's largest end market. Its static-dissipative materials are needed in parts that handle paper in copiers, printers and other business equipment. The firm also is gaining work in medical parts such as surgical instruments and inhalers, and industrial parts for pumps and valves, Carreno said.

Infinity uses a range of resins including polycarbonate, nylon, polybutylene terphthalate and polyetheretherketone. Many of the firm's compounds are highly lubricated and electrically active.

Carreno added that he's looking forward to working with Schulz once again. Schulz ended his 37-year LNP career in 2003, while Carreno spent almost 30 years with that firm before helping to start Infinity.