Partnerships build the groundwork for good business, according to a small industrial blow molder named for that philosophy - Partners In Plastics Inc. Not yet three years old, the company, which last year reported sales of $3.7 million and expects to double that this year, has done nothing but grow in customers, business and equipment, said president and co-owner Greg Vincent.
This year alone the firm invested more than $6 million in a 40,000-square-foot addition to its Sharon Center, Ohio, headquarters plant and two new blow molding machines, he said.
Partners will need that room as it moves closer to its goal of developing into a company with sales of $15 million to $20 million a year. To secure that future, the firm needs to form strong partnerships - with its customers, suppliers and employees, Vincent said.
Since its first blow molding job, making toys for Step 2 Corp., the company has taken on a variety of work - a strategy, Vincent said, that keeps it from becoming dependent on any one industry.
At a 70,000-square-foot facility in Sharon Center, 85 employees and seven blow molding machines make toys, hog feeders, shower benches, automotive parts, trash cans, highway markers and a host of other products.
In addition to investing in new equipment, the company created 10-15 new positions this year, Vincent said. For now it is using some of the new space for storage and leasing the rest, he said.
Although Partners is Vincent's ``first venture into ownership,'' his blow molding history dates back 25 years.
Before he and his silent partner started the business in 1993, Vincent spent 10 years as general manager of Automotive Industries Inc.'s Arbor Division in Fremont, Ohio. But he said he saw ``a very nice opportunity'' to strike out on his own ``in a field that's growing.''