Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
August 17, 2016 02:00 AM

Furniture maker had a tough time breaking into rotomolding

Bill Bregar
Senior Staff Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Tenjam Furniture Co.
    Tenjam's rotomolded furniture can be found in schools and libraries.

    Cleveland — Mike Collins said Tenjam Furniture Co., the maker of creative, whimsical furniture, is transitioning to rotational molding from its original method of cutting foam shapes. But he said, for a bunch of furniture designers, dealing with rotomolders was not easy.

    Rotomolders contacted by the Tenjam executives bombarded them with technical questions. Draft? Resin characteristics. Chemical data sheets?

    Whaat?

    “Rotational molding looks simple from the outside, but when I started to get inside, it was just overwhelming to a group of people who were designers,” Collins said.

    Collins delivered his ode to rotomolding — and his wakeup call to the industry — at the Society of Plastics Engineers' Rotational Molding Conference, held June 5-8 in Cleveland.

    He recapped the history of Tenjam, which is based in Marietta, Ga. The company makes special furniture for schools, libraries, corporations and themed environments.

    Several years ago, Collins discovered a method of CNC-cutting large buns of foam, to create special customized shapes. But he needed to cover the foam with a durable material, so he contacted a material science company that had developed spray coatings for airplane wings, truck bed liners and backing for artificial turf.

    They hit on a spray-applied flexible elastomer covering that would help the foam retain its distinctive shape.

    “I just wanted to go out and make really cool furniture,” Collins said. He took some samples to a furniture trade show, and sales took off.

    “We ended up doing a lot of custom work” for big tech companies like Google and Microsoft, he said. “We cut logos that you could sit on.”

    Schools began calling Tenjam wanting custom shapes in the shape of alphabet letters or the sports mascot. “We cut custom shapes of foam and then we spray-applied the structural plastics,” he said.

    For schools and other institutions, a big attraction of the coated foam furniture was fundamental: The easy-to-clean smooth surface — without any seams to hold in dirt and germs.

    “We've done so many shapes. Big sofas that look like clouds. We've done a ton of shapes, a ton of colors,” Collins said.

    Dealers began calling wanting more furniture. The phone rang off the hook from field reps looking to handle the line. “So as a furniture company we grew like crazy,” he said. They couldn't keep up, cutting foam and applying the coating in spray booths. Plus, it generated a lot of foam waste, he added.

    The path to rotational molding started with a New York architect who funded the idea of a new chair that constantly engages your leg, back and core stomach muscles, called the Tilt. Collins said people loved the idea, and the money was available to build a mold and get it produced.

    That's when reality hit.

    Collins said he called 10 or 15 rotomolders in the Atlanta area, but got no interest. As soon as he mentioned the need for many colors, and talked about the chair design, it was end of story.

    “It was really challenging,” Collins said. As an outsider to plastics, it was frustrating talking to rotomolders. “The molders just threw all the technological stuff at me.

    “Instead, I was sent Dow chemical spec sheets with tons of information,” he said.

    “I was talking to all these molders. Nobody wanted to give me the time of day. I wasn't getting anywhere. There were too many questions coming back that I didn't know the answers to,” he said.

    So he started looking at molds online. He connected up with Tom Innis, president of mold maker Avantech Inc. Innis looked at Tenjam's website, and went to Atlanta to meet Collins.

    “Their group at Avantech just held our hands,” Collins said. “Me and one of the product designers, we started having conference calls with people at the mold-making shop and they really taught us on how to design our products to work with rotomolding.”

    Innis, whose presentation followed the Tanjam story at the Cleveland SPE conference, said Avantech used a hybrid approach to the molds, a combination of cast aluminum and CNC aluminum. The company in Baxter, Minn., also linked Tenjam up with product designers experienced in rotomolding, molders and other industry experts.

    Mold makers often are only brought in at the end of a product-design process. Innis said it was refreshing to play a key role, right away, and helping the customer network with industry experts. “We're definitely thinking beyond our traditional scope of just building tools,” he said.

    Collins said Tenjam made nine rotomolded test chairs. “They looked great and the market responded,” he said. “They loved them.”

    Tenjam launched its first rotomolded chair in mid-2015. The furniture company uses two Wisconsin rotomolders — Dutchland Plastics Corp. and Plasticraft Corp. — Collins said.

    Sales have taken off. “We're definitely going all in to roto. We're looking to phase out our flexible products as we go to roto. The market's just responding so favorably,” he said.

    Innis said the message for the rotomolding industry is to help point newcomers in the right direction. “I wonder how many other Mike Collinses are out there frustrated, trying to get some answers and convert their product line roto,” Innis said.

    After the initial rough patch, Collins said, Tenjam is bullish on rotational molding.

    “My full intention is to become the largest rotomolded furniture manufacturer or brand, in the United States,” he said.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Patio doors get a boost with new production, designs
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Plan to extend chemical recycling in Illinois hits roadblock
    2
    Biden sets US goal to replace 90% of plastics with biomaterials
    3
    Redline's ‘outrageous cultural behaviors' retain top employees
    4
    Industry sees Biden bioplastics goal as serious signal
    5
    Trinseo: Equipment failure blamed for latex emulsion leak
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified