Large injection molders see stagnant sales despite rising resin prices

Results from our surveys always yield some interesting facts. Let's take a closer look at the numbers behind the latest Plastics News ranking of the top 100 North American injection molders.

There are 103 firms in the top 100 this year, thanks to several ties at No. 99 with $70 million. That cut off for the top 100 has changed over the years: for 2011 fiscal year it was $55 million and for 2009 it was $45.9 million. Back in 2000 the cut was at $63.2 million — just about 10 percent lower than this year's ranking.

The average sales for the top 100 companies is $280.5 million this year, which is basically flat compared to last year's ranking.

For those firms that reported growth, the average increase was 14 percent, even though the average price for the most popular resins was down 7 percent.

The top 100 companies generated sales of $28.9 billion last year, compared to $23 billion five years ago.

We have one new member of the top 10 this year, automotive molder Kasai North America Inc. ranking at No. 9 with North American molding sales of $586.80 million.

The biggest Top 100 movers this year were:

Freudenberg Medical LLC of Carpinteria, Calif., moving up 139 spaces to rank at No. 49

Lomont Molding LLC of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, moving up 47 spaces to rank at number 99

Röchling Advent Tool & Mold of Rochester, N.Y., moving up 47 spaces to rank at No. 99.

Techniplas LLC of Nashotah, Wis., moving up 40 spaces to rank at No. 35.

MGS Mfg. Group Inc. of Germantown, Wis., moving up 17 spaces to rank at No. 49.

Tribar Manufacturing LLC of Howell, Mich., moving up 14 spaces to rank at No. 64.

Silgan Holdings Inc. of Stamford, Conn., moving up 14 spaces to rank at No. 11.

Dinesol Plastics Inc. of Niles, Ohio, moving up nine spaces to rank at No. 85.

Jones Plastic & Engineering Co. LLC of Jeffersontown, Ky., moving up eight spaces to rank at No. 30.

Otto Environmental Systems North America Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., moving up six spaces to rank at No. 55.

Want more information? Visit our top 100 ranking online at http://www.plasticsnews.com/rankings/injection-molders. And watch next week's issue for the rest of this year's injection molders' ranking.

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

Thanks to Hollee Keller for today's peek behind the data and the research on this year's project.