PORT HURON, MICH. (Dec. 5, 4:10 p.m. ET) — Auto supplier Prism Plastics LLC will open its third facility by the end of December, part of a growth curve that has seen it more than double its sales in two years.
Prism, based in Port Huron, Mich., will begin production near New Baltimore, Mich., in a new 25,000-square-foot plant with seven all-electric Toshiba injection molding presses. It has space to house up to 11 presses at the site, said co-owner Gerry Phillips in a Dec. 5 telephone interview.
Phillips and his two partners – Rod Bricker and Jerry Williams – opened Prism in 1999 in Port Huron. It expanded to Harlingen, Texas, in 2005. The company currently has 51 employees and expects to add 11 more workers once the new site is in operation.
Prism focuses on high volume, tight tolerance, hard-to-mold functional parts for seat belts, air bags and fuel systems.
Before the economy began to slow in 2008, Prism had been growing steadily. It had no debt, allowing it to better weather the downturn and stand out as a solid supplier when other firms ran into trouble, Phillips said.
“We've always had really good luck,” he said. “Once we get in with a customer and they see what we can do, they give us more business.”
In 2009, Prism posted $5 million in sales. For 2011, it expects to close the books with about $12 million in revenue and anticipates hitting $22 million in sales by 2013.
Prism has fully-automated production at all of its facilities – which is important for its critical safety components, Phillips said. It uses the same equipment across all of its plants, including Toshiba presses and Yushin robots, to ensure it can duplicate precision manufacturing methods at each site.
“Part of how we maintain our quality is that everything is uniform and standardized,” he said. “Port Huron, Texas and now New Baltimore, we have all the same equipment all the same uniform production and everything interchangeable.”
