Plastics fabricator and distributor L-E-M Plastics & Supply Co. Inc. is banking on old-world craftsmanship to help it rebound from recent setbacks.
L-E-M has acquired fabricator Quality Plastics & Machine Co. and in the process has hired Quality Plastics' former owner, Wesley Mijal.
“He has intellectual property and old-world skills that will help us grow,” explained L-E-M President Ellen Pietrowitz-Phillips in a phone interview.
Mijal is “a master at plastic machining, taking sheet or rod and artfully turning it into the blueprint requirement,” L-E-M noted in a Jan 15 news release.
Pietrowitz-Phillips said the acquisition will allow Mijal to jettison the administrative duties of running his small company to focus “on what he does best.”
L-E-M was moving Quality Plastics' assets to L-E-M's headquarters in Rutherford, N.J., the week of Jan. 12. Quality Plastics had been leasing space in Garfield, N.J., and no longer operates there.
L-E-M's workforce has grown to a dozen with the addition of Mijal and another Quality Plastics employee. Its plastics machining capabilities have also grown with the relocation of Quality Plastics' equipment. L-E-M lists CNC mills, lathes, saws, punch presses and equipment for secondary services at its ISO quality-certified Rutherford plant.
Pietrowitz-Phillips said L-E-M is still recovering from the recent recession and Hurricane Irene, which in 2011 savaged the firm's former plant in Wallington, N.J., and convinced L-E-M to move to Rutherford. She said her company has been in a rebuilding phase since then and the Quality Plastics acquisition should bolster its outlook.
L-E-M machines a range of engineering plastics, including acetal, nylon and phenolics, into components for industries such as aerospace, defense, appliance and food and beverage. Quality Plastics produced similar components and often worked with L-E-M on jobs. L-E-M also distributes polymer shapes.