Rogan thrives after 80 years by continuing to reinvent itself

NORTHBROOK, ILL. — Rogan Corp. is one of those unusual plastics processors that have been around for more than a few decades.

But even though the Northbrook firm is nearly 81 years old, it still seems like a start-up company.

That's because Rogan has constantly reinvented itself. The latest move is into custom work, including newer capabilities in clean room and liquid silicone molding.

“We've changed many, many times over the years. That's how we've managed to survive,” said President David Schoessow, who's been with Rogan for 36 of its 80 years. (The company turns 81 in March.)

Initially the company specialized in hot stamping, and then compression molding Bakelite knobs. In those early days, its expertise was in tooling and developing a wide variety of knobs. Rogan considers those proprietary products, and it still makes quite a few of them.

Over time, the knob businesses changed. Remember how early microwave ovens had knobs instead of touch pads? Have you seen stoves with touch pads now, too?

As the market changed, Rogan adapted. Customers moved from control knobs to clamping knobs, and then from analog to digital controls. So Rogan moved into injection molding, then two-shot molding, and finally LSR.

The result is that Rogan has a lot of experience with different molding technologies. Now the company is pursuing more custom work, marketing its expertise to other companies.

“We've had a proprietary product over the years. Now we're selling our capabilities to help customers solve the problems that they've had,” Schoessow said.

Capitalizing on two-shot expertise

One customer that's come on board is Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Constructive Eating Inc. The company makes colorful eating utensils for children, with designs like garden fairies and heavy-duty trucks.

Constructive Eating turned to Rogan to take advantage of the company's two-shot molding experience. Previously, some of the Constructive Eating tableware was molded in Shenzhen, China, using a more labor-intensive overmolding technique.

“I was looking for a two-shot molder specifically knowing that if we brought [the molding] back stateside, the only way we could make that work would be if we could reduce the labor of people manipulating the parts,” said Constructive Eating founder and CEO Carter Malcolm.

“Rogan built the tool for the two-shot process. They gave us some good tips back and forth to improve the moldability. We worked to refine the design to be very conducive to that process,” Malcolm said.

Malcolm said Rogan has “exceptional customer service. They're absolutely great to work with. We're constantly adjusting our quantities. They worked very hard with us to make sure we're not on back order.”

Constructive Eating started working with Rogan in 2009. Now Rogan is making more tools — for new products that Constructive Eating will introduce later this year.

Medical molding

Rogan latest big investment is in medical molding. The focus is on close-tolerance molding that requires ISO-13485 and ISO-9001 quality certification.

“We decided to leverage our capabilities with LSR, which is still not a capability that a lot of molders have,” Schoessow said.

The company installed a hard-sided Class 100,000 clean room, and it's in a focal point in the factory — right at the front of the molding area, so it's the first thing visitors see on factory tours.

One medical customer is Fresenius Medical Care North America. Rogan fabricates a critical manifold that's part of a hemodialysis fluidic set. Several of the components for the assembly are two-shot molded, according to Brian Kelly, a senior mechanical engineer for Fresenius, based in Lake Forest, Calif.

“We had a medical device part that was designed with overmolded features on it, [and] we saw it as a candidate for two-shot molding, which is what Rogan is largely known for,” Kelly said.

“They have been very responsive in addressing any issues with the molding of the parts, responding to design changes and accommodating our QA and regulatory needs,” Kelly added.

“Rogan is a little unique as compared to other vendors we use, in that they have been transitioning from a mainline parts manufacturer to a medical device manufacturer. In this regard, they have brought in clean room equipment, upgraded processing protocols and have acquired certifications necessary to successfully fabricate medical device components,” he said.

New relationship

Schoessow said the move to custom molding meant having a more intimate relationship with customers.

Moving into medical molding has meant investing in new equipment, training, and bringing expertise on staff to get the proper certification.

The privately owned company posted 2014 sales of about $10 million, and expects to grow between 7 and 10 percent in 2015. Rogan has 65 employees and 27 molding presses. Three of the presses mold LSR, eight are two-shot machines, and three are vertical presses for molding thermoplastic. The rest are horizontal presses, ranging from 20-300 tons of clamping force.

The newest machines are Sodick and Wittmann Battenfeld presses. The company has invested more than $1 million in new equipment in the past 18 months.

It's also investing in its mold making operations — something that it's emphasized all the way back to the early days, in the 1930s. Last year Rogan installed a Makino PS65, as part of a plan to expand its tooling capabilities. It knocked down walls to expand the toolroom, and hired a mold making apprentice.

The company was started by three Rogan brothers in 1934, and it's still in the family. While plastic knobs are still a big part of the business, the real corporate culture has been to invest in new processing  technology.

“There's never been a time we haven't been encouraged to look at new equipment, and add technology,” Schoessow said.