Donna Scholz is realizing a family dream at Plastic Diversity Solutions LLC, a Dayville, Conn.-based compounder that's in the midst of a $2.5 million expansion.
Scholz bought the 220,000-square-foot Dayville site from Plastics Color Corp. in September 2007. The $2.5 million expansion will include a Banbury mixer purchased from Farrel Corp. of Ansonia, Conn., which had been using the mixer in its own lab facility. The expansion — which will increase the site's annual production capacity to almost 50 million pounds — includes new operating software as well as an extruder and underwater pelletizer.
Plastic Diversity's existing lineup includes two Banburys, two twin-screw extrusion lines and three single-screw lines. The 30-employee company's output focuses on flame-retardant compounds based on ethylene vinyl acetate and various thermoplastic elastomers.
One of the firm's primary markets is wire and cable, but Scholz said the business also is exploring opportunities in the energy, utilities and defense markets.
Scholz had been working as a telecommunications consultant for more than 20 years before forming Plastic Diversity. She has a family connection to the plastics industry as the daughter of Fred Scholz Jr., an Evansville, Ind.-area plastics pioneer who co-founded compounding firm Complas Inc. with Ray Wright in the 1960s. Complas later was sold to Ferro Corp.
Fred Scholz Jr. now is helping Plastic Diversity with its process technology, while Donna's brother — Fred Scholz III — is serving as head of sales. Christopher Campbell, a former executive with the Booz Allen consulting firm, is Plastic Diversity's chief operating and quality officer.
Donna Scholz has dedicated Plastic Diversity's Dayville headquarters to her mother, Kitty. ``Mom always wanted the family to go in business together. And now we're finally doing it,'' she said.
As a woman-owned business, the firm can benefit from diversity content requirements in programs funded by federal, state and municipal governments, she said. Plastic Diversity can allow such programs to meet those requirements without added costs.
Future plans for the business call for creating an extensive online presence to allow for greater customer interaction, Scholz added.