Kelly Goodsel, the top executive of Viking Plastics Inc., purchased the injection molding company in Corry, Pa., on Aug. 4.
Viking employs 75 and runs 30 injection presses, ranging in clamping force from 50-700 tons, in a 65,000-square-foot plant. Goodsel expects sales to reach about $13.5 million this year.
The firm, which does complex post-molding assembly, makes automotive fuel system connectors, sealing closures and other parts for automotive, commercial and residential air conditioning, and components for the appliance, electronics/telecommunications and industrial markets.
Goodsel said Viking's nylon fuel-line connectors are widely used on many models of cars. Automated equipment puts together the connectors, which can come in five- or six-part assemblies.
Goodsel, 42, joined Viking in 2000 as president and chief executive officer. He said Viking's expertise is what persuaded him to buy the company.
``We're much more than a standard shoot-and-ship molding company, whether it be through our product capabilities that include unscrewing tooling, or our breadth of molding capabilities,'' he said.
Founded in 1972, Viking developed a proprietary line of plastic and rubber sealing closures for under-the-hood automotive and industrial applications. The company expanded into custom molding, and now uses a range of engineering resins, including glass-reinforced materials.
Earlier this year, Viking got a patent on a snap-connector called the Vi-Loc, which eliminates several aluminum assembly components and makes it easier to assemble tubing for air conditioning and fluids.
``Anywhere you need to put two tubes together, and seal it, we can do it,'' Goodsel said.
Goodsel holds degrees in plastics engineering and in sales and marketing from Ferris State University, and a master's degree in business from Temple University. Before coming to Viking, he held management positions at DuPont Co., Huron Plastics Group Inc. and the Fremont Plastic Products Division of the Plastics Group.
Goodsel set up VPI Acquisition Corp. to handle the purchase. VPI bought Viking at a public sale in Pittsburgh, after Goodsel signed an asset purchase agreement July 20 with the senior lender, a group of banks represented by Heller Financial Inc.
CIT Group Inc. owned Viking until 2004, when CIT got out of the venture capital arena, and sold its private equity business to New York-based leveraged buyout firm Protostar Equity Partners LP.
F.N.B. Capital Corp. LLC of Ross Township, Pa., provided mezzanine financing for the purchase by VPI Acquisition. F.N.B. is the merchant banking subsidiary of F.N.B. Corp.