Anaheim, Calif. — Tight-tolerance precision molder D&M Plastics LLC of Burlington, Ill., is moving toward use of all-electric presses for medical and electronic applications.
“We are looking at Sodick,” Peyton (Chip) Owen Jr. said at D&M's display during the Feb. 9-11 Medical Design & Manufacturing West trade show in Anaheim. Owen is D&M's president and majority owner.
D&M operates 30 mostly hybrid presses of 28-350 tons including Husky Hylectrics for large parts, Toyo electrics and Krauss Maffeis. D&M occupies 55,000 square feet including a 1,000-square-foot Class 7 clean room.
D&M employs 50 full-time workers and 15 to 40 more as temporary needs dictate.
Four employees are qualified with mold making skills and assist in specifying the geometrically complex tool requirements. D&M orders outsourcing work to numerous Chicago area mold shops. It repairs and maintains molds in-house but does not make any.
D&M says, in 1993, it was the first U.S. full-service turnkey manufacturer to achieve ISO certification and its external defect rate of 17 parts per million is 60 times better than the industry average.
From 2000-2015, D&M produced 4.8 billion precision parts for the medical industry and 1.4 billion medical devices. D&M was founded in 1972.
Marc Jaker, sales and marketing manager, noted that D&M's capabilities include insert molding, reel-to-reel production and in-mold decorating.
Owen said he recently offered partial ownership stakes as an incentive to the firm's top tier of employees. Owen projected 2016 sales will increase more than 10 percent from those in 2015, which he placed at $8 million to $10 million.
