Which tooling sector is seeing the fastest growth?

This week's ranking of North American mold makers is more than six times larger than when it debuted in 2001 with just the top 20 firms. Let's take a look behind the current numbers.

The most notable change is that Fort Loramie, Ohio-based Tooling Tech Group's listing now includes all subsidiaries, which puts them in the top 10 this year.

127 firms are ranked with $2.3 billion in sales, up 12 percent over last year.

Looking just at just the firms that reported growth: the average sales increase was 15 percent.  And looking at the firms that make only injection molds is even more impressive –  they reported 30 percent average growth.

Sticking with firms reporting growth, let's look to the processor rankings we've published so far.  Rotomolders lead the pack with 17.6 percent average growth.

Welcome to the ranking 

These firms are listed for the first time:

Action Mold & Machining Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich.

Choice Tool & Mold Inc. of  Sarasota, Fla.

Daum Tooling Inc. of San Clemente, Calif.

Future Mold Corp. of  Farwell, Mich.

Moulexpert Inc. of Levis, Quebec.

Here are the top movers

These firms have moved up the most positions in the ranking:

MMI Engineered Solutions Inc. of Saline, Mich. moves up 20 places to rank at No. 75.

Janler Corp. of Chicago, Ill. moves up 17 places to rank at No. 46.

Tooling Tech Group of Fort Loramie, Ohio moves up 10 places to rank at No. 3.

Delta Technologies Group of Auburn Hills, Mich. moves up 9 places to rank at No. 14.

Creative Blow Mold Tooling Inc. of Lee's Summit, Mo. moves up 8 places to rank at No. 74.

Mold-Tech Inc. of Albertville, Minn. moves up 7 places to rank at No. 50.

Master Tool & Mold Inc. of Grafton, Wis. moves up 6 places to rank at No. 102.

Minco Tool and Mold Inc. of Dayton, Ohio moves up 5 places to rank at No. 40.

Accede Mold & Tool Co. Inc. of Rochester, N.Y. moves up 5 places to rank at No. 43.

Iowa Mold & Engineering Inc. of Belle Plaine, Iowa moves up 5 places to rank at No. 87.

Source One of Murrieta, Calif. moves up 5 places to rank at No. 116.

The full listing is online at www.plasticsnews.com/rankings/mold-toolmakers, the data itself can be purchased from our data store at www.plasticsnews.com/section/store.

If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, we would like to include you next time. Please download a survey form or contact Hollee Keller at [email protected]  or mail your information to Plastics News, P.O. Box 790, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278.

Thanks to Hollee Keller, for this peek behind the rankings data. Follow her on Twitter @holleekeller.