It's inevitable. As plastics processing matures from the small, experimental enterprise it was 50 years ago, to the larger, fast-paced business it is today, the hands-on entrepreneurs who grew the industry are retiring. In their place is the large, multiplant megamolder, with operations directed by people with master's degrees in business administration.
``My dad saw it starting to change about 10 years ago,'' said Rob Roth, who grew up in the industry under the tutelage of his father, plastics pioneer Merrill Roth.
Merrill Roth was one of the founders of Grant & Roth in Portland, Ore., now part of SPM Inc. in Anaheim, Calif.
``We knew then that to be successful you'd have to be big enough to be important to both your customers and your suppliers,'' he said.
Rob Roth now is marketing and sales manager for Quality Plastics Inc. in Newberg, Ore., formerly owned by Lee Dundas Sr. and now a division of Moll Plasticrafters, headquartered in La Vergne, Tenn.
Merrill Roth has retired, but maintains an office at SPM and a machine shop in his garage where he invents and makes devices for use with robotics in molding applications. He has been involved with the plastics industry since 1928, when he went to work for a company that made dentures from celluloid with six hand-operated presses. He has seen many changes during that time.
``Today, molding is big business,'' Merrill Roth said in a recent telephone interview. ``Time was we didn't know anything about business. It was all just trial and error until we got a business going. We even built our own presses
because we couldn't afford to buy them.''
You most likely won't see George Votis up to his elbows in a molding press. Votis, chairman and chief executive officer of Moll Plasticrafters, represents the new breed of plastics company owners. Votis, who has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, oversees Moll's multiplant operations from his office in New York.
Votis said the plastics entrepreneurs who built the industry now are selling the companies they built because they lack the capital to succeed in today's business environment.
Small business owners ``perhaps are not inclined to take that next step, either because they don't have the money, or lack the different skill set required to manage it, or they've achieved a certain level of satisfaction where they're at and don't want to go to the next level,'' he said.
George Freeborn, who sold his company, Textek Plastics Inc. in San Antonio, to Moll about two years ago, said that with the plastics industry's increasing sophistication and global competition, molders no longer can supply the entire United States from one location. There is also an increasing reluctance on the part of large original equipment manufacturers to deal with the small, entrepreneurial shop.
``[Customers] are afraid you have no depth in your organization,'' he said. ``They want to deal with the large shop - not only large dollarwise, but large in the depth of talent and serv-ices they offer.''
Randall Barko, vice president of sales and marketing for Nypro Inc. in Clinton, Mass., said longevity in the business may bring reluctance to take risk.
``When you're younger and have your whole life ahead of you, it's much easier to risk it all and take the chance,'' Barko said. ``These entrepreneurs become less willing to risk what they've worked for all their life in order to grow the business to the next level.''
Louis Buzzitta has worked on both sides of the molding industry. For 25 years he operated plants for large conglomerates, and from 1982 until his retirement in 1994, he owned Hughes Plastics Inc. of St. Joseph, Mich.
During the 12 years he owned Hughes Plastics Inc. he took it from $4 million to $45 million to $25 million in annual sales, and Buzzitta said he had fun doing it. But he also knew times were changing.
"If you're giong to do anything in this industry today, you can't do it as a small company," he said.
He also realized that to expand to meet the requirements of his automotive customers world require a quantum leap.
"I had to ask myself, do I want to do that? Will I tget in return what I put into it?" he said.
He decided the risks wrer just too great.
"Twenty years ago I'd spend a half-million dollars at a plant just on a handshake with a customer," buzzitta said. "In today's environment, I wouldn't do it under lieves any circumstances."
Sometimes a big company comes along and makes you and an offer you just cannot refuse, she said Freevorn, "especially when you've had a bad week."
"Molding used to be an art. ...Now, moldong is a science. [The industry] doesn't need artists anymore," Freeborn said.
Instead, Freeborn said he believes the plastics industry needs corporate leaders like Voltis, with the managerial skills and business acumen to expand companies' capabilities.
"Moll's done a credible job of improving and expanding Textek," said Freeborn.
There are some sour grapes over industry changes, however.
"It used to be a molder's philosophy that it's fun to make plastic parts and if you make money too, that's even better," said one man whose family has been in plastics 50 years. "Now make money, not plastic."
That's probably a fair statement, said Nypro's Barko.
Unlike some larter congloverates that may be involved in many industries, Barko said Nypro's "business is molding as a sideline."
Hughes, he took it from $4 million to $25 million in annual sales, and Buzzitta said he had fun doing it. But he also knew times were changing.
``If you're going to do anything in this industry today, you can't do it as a small company,'' he said.
He also realized that to expand to meet the requirments of his automotive customers would require a quantum leap.
``I had to ask myself, do I want to do that? Will I get in return what I put into it?''he said.
He decided the risks were just too great.
``Twenty years ago I'd spend a half-million dollars at a plant just on a handshake with a customer,'' Buzzitta said. ``In today's environment, I wouldn't do it under any circumstances.''
Sometimes a big company comes along and makes you an offer you just cannot refuse, said Freeborn, ``especially when you've had a bad week.''
Like Roth, Freeborn watched the industry change radically during 30 years.
``Molding used to be an art. ... Now, molding is a science. [The industry] doesn't need artists anymore,'' Freeborn said.
Instead, Freeborn said he believes the plastics industry needs corporate leaders like Votis, with the managerial skills and business acumen to expand companies' capabilities.
``Moll's done a credible job of improving and expanding Textek,'' said Freeborn.
There are some sour grapes over industry changes, however.
``It used to be a molder's philosophy that it's fun to make plastic parts and if you make money too, that's even better,'' said one man whose family has been in plastics 50 years. ``Now the philosophy is, we're here to make money, not plastic.''
That's probably a fair statement, said Nypro's Barko.
Unlike some larger conglomerates that may be involved in many industries, Barko said Nypro's ``business is molding, not something else with molding as a sideline.''
