Trademark gets smaller but more focused

San Diego — Trademark Plastics Inc. of Riverside, Calif., is narrowing its focus with fewer — but more highly trained — employees, more automated systems and higher productivity in available space.

Trademark is changing its business model and becoming "an engineering-based company offering custom injection molding services," said David Carty, chief operating officer.

Trademark has established a strong relationship with German injection molding machinery maker Arburg GmbH + Co. KG. An Arburg technology center in Irvine, Calif., is about 46 miles from Trademark's facility.

"Arburg is the best fit," said Phil Estrada, Trademark's chief operations executive. "Arburg offers technology we need to automate our processes."

Trademark is developing hands-free sorting systems and end-of-arm tooling and is creating some specialized systems to keep parts separated.

The Trademark headcount is at 175, down from 240, including temporary workers in October 2016. "We hired the high-performing temps," Carty said, but Trademark no longer relies on temporary hires.

Among the permanent employees, 30 come from a program at the Riverside campus of the California School for the Deaf and work as material handlers, machine operators and quality inspectors.

"Trademark has a mindset we appreciate and encourage," said Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey. "They looked around the city for ways to give back and ways to connect, and Trademark has done that with the deaf school."

Trademark is elevating skill levels through on-site training and hiring experienced talent with capabilities to mentor others.

Over three days in June, an on-site technical trainer from Dracut, Mass.-based Routsis Training established a skill development plan at Trademark and installed an ongoing RightStart-brand system of online and hands-on courses.

The system creates a customized training plan for each employee identifying job-specific tasks. Going forward, Trademark can track its training initiatives using the Routsis system.

Trademark also opted to conduct critical "portfolio reviews" across its entire business and has culled back the customer base.

"We don't want jobs requiring manual labor," Estrada said. "We want full transparency with customers."

The company's sales were impacted by the exercize.

"We project sales will be down to $21 million" during 2017, said Bryan Barrera, vice president of sales. Last year's total was $22.5 million.

Medical components account for about 85 percent of Trademark's volume. Medical was 60 percent in 2012 and 50 percent in 2008.

Another reorientation involves Trademark's 100,000-square-foot facility. The firm projects the possible addition of 30-40 injection molding machines for consumer products during 2018. The goal is to provide a customer with full-service molding, assembly and packaging capabilities.

Trademark plans to use its existing 28,000-square-foot warehouse for the presses and is working to reduce its storage needs.

Currently, Trademark operates 50 presses ranging from 7-500 tons and soon may acquire three more Arburg presses as replacements for existing equipment.

The project follows the unsuccessful one-year effort with the former TPCG Inc. division in Moreno Valley, Calif., about 10 miles from the Riverside plant. Trademark created the division in November 2015 to focus on consumer goods, but expectations were not realized. A resulting dispute remains unsettled.

In another area, Trademark has delayed implementation of its planned expansion into a Mexico facility. The project was supposed to start in 2018 but is on hold awaiting resolution of possible changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"We will let the dust settle," Barrera said. "We will have everything automated."

Trademark has a toolroom in Riverside employing eight, including five certified mold makers. Trademark is hiring more certified talent for the shop, which makes only high-end steel prototypes. Trademark contracts for production molds with ISO-certified shops in California, Arizona, Utah and Minnesota.

The Trademark team was interviewed Oct. 18 during a break in the MPO Summit conference in San Diego.