This week Plastics News publishes our annual ranking of the top 100 North American injection molders. 102 companies make up the top 100 as four firms tied at $60 million. This year, the cutoff for making the top 100 was 20 percent higher than the 4-year run we've had at $50 million.
Only three molders reported declining sales, 26 were flat, the rest were up. How much? 8.8 percent on average. To put it another way: of the top 100 companies that reported growth, the average sales per firm was $278.9 million vs. last year's $260.9, that's a 6.7 percent gain.
It was a good year to be a custom or contract molder. Firms with a diverse list of end markets outpaced packaging and container molders for the bigger slice of the top 100 sales pie. Last year only a few custom/contract molders reported increases.
In a year of modest growth, organizational changes can make all the difference. Many firms consolidated, sold off assets or restructured their business operations. Rexam plc split up and sold its North American injection molding. Silgan acquired Portola Packaging Inc., Techniplas Group picked up a division of Weidmann International Corp. and NYX Inc. sold a plant to Nyloncraft Inc.
The more things change the more they stay the same, the Top 10 from last year remain the top 10 this year.
Welcome to the Top 100:
- AMA Plastics Inc. of Riverside, Calif.
- Dinesol Plastics Inc. of Niles, Ohio.
- F&M Tool and Plastics Inc. of Leominster, Mass.
- Intertech Plastics Inc. of Denver. (This company should be No. 86 with estimated North American injection molding sales of $67 million, including the June 2013 acquisition of Image Molding Inc., which was renamed Intertech Medical. Our ranking in the June 16 issue does not reflect the deal, but the online version does).
- Koller Enterprises Inc. of Fenton, Mo.
- Mold Masters Co. of Lapeer, Mich.
- Tasus Corp. of Bloomington, Ind.
- Tribar Manufacturing LLC of Howell, Mich.
The biggest Top 100 movers this year were:
- Silgan Holdings Inc. of Stamford, Conn., moves up 33 positions to rank at No. 20.
- Jones Plastic & Engineering Co. LLC of Jefferstontown, Ky., moves up 13 positions to rank at No. 32.
- Classic Industries Inc. of Latrobe, Pa., moves up 11 positions to rank at No. 89.
Want more information? Visit our top 100 ranking online at www.plasticsnews.com/rankings/injection-molders.
If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, we would like to include you next time. Just send a note to Hollee Keller at [email protected] or mail your information to Plastics News, P.O. Box 790, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278.
Thanks to Hollee Keller for today's peek behind the data and the research on this year's project.