Ranking data highlights consolidations, 'allure' of rotomolding

By the numbers, our latest ranking of North American rotational molders includes 104 companies with combined related sales of just over $3.1 billion.

Results for the 2022 fiscal year reveal the average sales per company is up 10.7 percent to $30.2 million, but that's not the best number to quote, because only about half the listings even have sales over $10 million. The real trend this year was for gains of 12-15 percent.

In this ranking we ask our respondents to break out their sales into custom, proprietary and captive percentages. Proprietary products take the largest share at 54 percent of the total, or $1.7 billion.

Tracking that level of detail can be confusing to follow, especially when the operations change owners. The idea of reporting captive figures is an attempt to separate rotationally molded finished goods from rotomolded components of a larger product.

But sometimes customers buy their suppliers, bringing plastic processing capability under their own business umbrella. What was once custom becomes captive. That seems to happen frequently in the rotomolding sector.

Our most recent example is cleaning machines maker Kaivac Inc. buying its supplier, Eger Products Inc. It's a difficult segment to tease data from, as 21 firms in our ranking reported some percentage of captive sales. This is also the point where we can lose listings, when the new parent companies no longer want to report that level of detail on their plastics operations.

Consolidation is always active on the rotomolding news front. This year is no exception. Quality Holdings LLC of Hartwell, Ga., is now part of Redline Plastics LLC, and Solar Plastics LLC of Delano, Minn., has folded into Tank Holding Corp.

Tank Holding is once again North America's largest rotational molder, according to our ranking, and the company has reported 20 acquisitions in the last three years. We know the actual number is higher, as the Lincoln, Neb., company has made some smaller acquisitions of product lines and businesses that it hasn't disclosed.

Our ranking of rotational molders is the smallest of our annual processor rankings, but it has its own charm. It's been interesting to watch the sector change over time.

Remember when it was an annual battle among toy companies for the top spot? This year Step2 Discovery LLC is No. 5, and Little Tikes Co. is No. 6. Rotational Molding Hall of Famer Tom Murdough has well known connections to both.

Before Tank Holding and Myers Industries Inc. became consolidators in the rotomolding sector, there was Sherman McKinniss, founder and president of Rotonics Manufacturing Inc. in Gardena, Calif.

Most of our top 10 companies have been there since the ranking debuted on Aug. 7, 1995. An excerpt from that issue's editorial column explains the allure of this process "... No dry chart could communicate the romance of rotomolding. This is a robust process that melds worker, mold and machine."

I took a look at some of the leading firms from that 1995 ranking that are still in our top 10 today and pulled a few statistics. Tank Holding is a giant among giants with its many acquisitions. Pelican Products Inc., originally ranked as Hardigg Industries Inc., has the biggest percentage gain. Little Tikes is the only molder whose sales have narrowed in scope — but are demographics on Tikes' side? We can imagine millennial parents who grew up driving a Cozy Coupe buying more for the next generation.

Our top 10 represents roughly 62 percent of the total sales in our ranking.

Redline Plastics LLC of Manitowoc, Wis., moved up 20 spaces to rank at No. 19.

Advanced Pedestals Inc. of Gainesville , Texas, moved up 16 spaces to rank at No. 29.

Three60 Roto of Howell, Mich., moved up nine spaces to rank at No. 85.

Smak Plastics Inc. of Vancouver, Wash., moved up eight spaces to rank at No. 43.

Diversified Plastics Inc. or Latta, S.C., moved up six spaces to rank at No. 25.

Ken Ross Inc. of Wylie, Texas, moved up five spaces to rank at No. 73.

Vista Plastic Solutions Inc. of Winkler, Manitoba, moved up four spaces to rank at No. 51.

Advanced Pedestals Inc. of Gainesville, Texas.

Peabody Engineering & Supply LLC of Liberty, S.C.

This ranking can be viewed online at www.plasticsnews.com/rotomolders, including 38 more rotational molders with directory-only listings.

If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, we would like to include you next time. Just send a note to me at [email protected] or mail your information to Plastics News, P.O. Box 790, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278.

Hollee Keller is Plastics News' editorial research coordinator and author of the All Things Data blog. Follow her on Twitter @holleekeller.