Domino relocates, updates Web tech
SETAUKET, N.Y. - Plastic resin and scrap dealer Domino Plastics Co. Inc. has moved into a new, 6,000-square-foot headquarters facility in Setauket.
Domino also has installed a new computer system with software, server and a dedicated T1 line for its www.domplas.com Web site. The technology is vital to the firm, which generates about half of its sales from online purchasing.
President Mike Domino said the site generates 10-12 ``solid hits'' per day and has won Domino business from Canada, Mexico, Asia and Europe. The firm also uses the Internet to make scrap purchases.
``Our sales reps used to fly across the country to inspect material,'' Domino said in a news release. ``Now we make split-second decisions based on viewing a digital photo and getting samples by overnight courier.''
In a recent telephone interview, Domino added that ``in almost every case, the material is what people say it is'' when sending digital photos.
``People have been incredibly accurate and reliable,'' he said.
Domino has seen a shifting attitude toward scrap material.
``In the last 10 years, companies have really started taking care of their scrap as prices have gone up,'' he said. ``They see [scrap] as a revenue stream.''
Domino Plastics now expects to trade 50 million pounds of scrap in 2005 while posting sales of about $17 million. If it hits those goals, Domino's scrap volume will have improved by 80 percent year-on-year, while sales would be up 70 percent.
The firm employs seven and operates additional sales offices in Shirley, N.Y., and Mount Laurel, N.J. By the end of the year, Domino Plastics expects to add one sales rep and a new purchasing employee.
Domino Plastics uses public warehousing and also contracts with grinding and baling companies on about 25 percent of its business. The firm's primary East Coast warehouse is in Cinnaminson, N.J.
Quickparts moves to larger head office
ATLANTA - Quickparts Inc. has moved to a new Atlanta headquarters, tripling its space.
The company completed its move to a 16,000-square-foot facility April 20. Quickparts, which employs 35, provides online quotes and custom manufacturing services for firms wanting to outsource plastic and metal parts fabrication from three-dimensional models.
Quickparts claims to have more than 20,000 registered users and to have supplied more than 150,000 quotes in its five years of existence, marketing director Sameer Vachani said.
Services include quotes for stereolithography, selective laser sintering, fused deposition modeling, cast urethanes, machined parts, sheet-metal prototypes and metal castings.
SMS reports future appears promising
MEINERZHAGEN, GERMANY - After a difficult 2003, machinery maker SMS Plastics Technology rebounded in 2004 and is ``making significant progress toward positive results,'' according to its parent company SMS AG.
Meinerzhagen-based SMS makes Battenfeld injection presses, Battenfeld Gloucester film equipment and extruders under the Battenfeld, American Maplan and Cincinnati brand names.
In 2004, the plastics machinery business generated orders of 446 million euros (US$555 million), a 2 percent increase from 438 million euros ($496 million) in 2003.
Other businesses of SMS AG include metallurgical plants, rolling mill equipment and technology to make metal tubing. The company did not break out unit sales.
Companywide, SMS in 2004 earned a profit of 20 million euros (US$25 million) on sales of 2.17 billion euros ($2.70 billion) - getting back into the black after losing 19 million euros ($21.5 million) in 2003. SMS announced the financial results April 7.
Heinrich Weiss, chairman of the managing board, said he expects a stable business volume for the rest of this year, and continued profit improvement.
SMS AG, which employs 9,479 worldwide, continued to adjust its manufacturing capacities to market conditions. SMS continues to add supplementary services, including electrical and automation systems, maintenance and technical assistance.