Former Textron Automotive Trim Division President William Maclean is back in the molding business - on a much smaller basis - by purchasing Accu-Tech Products Inc., a custom injection molder in Batesville, Miss.
Accu-Tech has $2.2 million in sales and 25 employees. The company runs 10 injection presses, with clamping forces of 10-400 tons.
Maclean bought the business from its owners for the past 22 years, Bill Byer and his wife, Kathryn Byer. Terms were not disclosed. Bill Byer will remain with the company in a consulting role during a transition period; then he plans to retire.
Maclean left Textron Automotive after Collins & Aikman Corp. bought Textron's Trim Division in 2001. As president, he oversaw 38 operations worldwide.
Maclean said he was semiretired and doing some consulting when he learned Byer wanted to sell Accu-Tech. GW Equity, a Dallas-based adviser to the family-owned business, coordinated the sale.
Accu-Tech's veteran management team will remain in place. The company does injection molding, overmolding, assembly, decorating and part design. Maclean and Byer said Accu-Tech is a true custom molder, with broad markets such as electrical/electronics, plumbing, appliances, consumer products, industrial and office products.
Maclean said the firm has growth opportunities in medium-volume molding for regional customers.
``We will be able to offer a nice, cost-effective alternative to people who would consider China or Mexico, who really don't have the volume to support it and don't want to take the huge risks of having months of supply on the water, or having to cross the border,'' he said. ``These are customers who are looking for quick turnaround, quick adjustments, tools that can be fixed or adjusted very quickly.''
The custom molder began in 1986, when Byer bought assets of a business that made agricultural products and did some plastics molding.
Byer had been a long-time employee of Continental Grain, where he was an executive overseeing the company's livestock feed business in the South. Around 1980, he changed careers to become an associate professor of marketing at the University of Memphis, but left that after five years.
