UPM invests in equipment, training

San Diego — Universal Plastic Mold Inc. is cutting costs, but not through ways that would hit workers' pocketbooks.

Instead, the custom molder and logistics provider is installing an energy storage system to control its utility costs, adding in-house training for its 190 employees and providing extra guidance to reduce workplace injuries.

To reduce its electric bill, UPM is installing an energy storage system that will help it avoid peak kilowatt usage. Southern California Edison charges more for energy used during peak periods.

Stem Inc. of Millbrae, Calif., is installing a 264-kilowatt automated energy storage system, which should bring peak usage under control.

"If we manage the peak point, we can keep our rate lower," UPM President Jason Dowling said in an interview Nov. 15 in UPM's booth at the Job Shop Co. Inc.'s Design-2-Part trade show in San Diego.

"We expect to have it installed by the end of December," he said. Stem owns the system and has an operating service agreement with UPM.

Once the Stem project is in place, Stem as the owner will apply for financial benefits under the California Public Utilities Commission's self-generation incentive program. SGIP provides rebates for qualifying distributed energy systems installed on the customer's side of the utility meter.

In addition, UPM plans a solar energy project soon with "a rooftop system along with a new covered storage area of 30,000 square feet," Dowling said. "We would also cover our parking lot and add panels there."

UPM is located on 7.5 acres. The main plant is 100,000 square feet with warehousing in an existing 30,000 square feet under covered storage.

UPM's employment roster of 190 people includes a certified mold maker among eight people in the tool room for micro welding, repairs and modifications.

It is also hiring molding technicians, Dowling said.

The company recently started an in-house training program using a system from Routsis Training of Dracut, Mass. About 15-20 workers on the night and morning shifts gather for the RightStart-brand sessions just as their shifts are ending or about to start.

A separate session takes place for people working the second shift.

In early November, UPM issued a challenge.

"The goal is to cut labor costs by one-half by the end of December 2018," Dowling said. "Ideally, we would retain our workforce and increase revenue at the same staffing levels."

An employee-focused effort seeks to reduce medical workers' compensation costs from repetition-related injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and shoulder or knee strain through use of automation technologies and other methods.

Recently, UPM added a six-axis single-arm robot from ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. and a gantry robot from Sepro Robotique SAS.

"We are in the processing of ordering portable collaborative robots and expect to have them operating by the end of 2017," Dowling said.

In 2016, UPM acquired a 2,000-ton hybrid Milacron injection molding machine, and in 2017, installed a 1,200-ton Husky hydraulic with a high base, large barrel and wide platen and three smaller machines: a 400-ton Milacron electric, two JSW electrics, one with 300 tons of clamping pressure, the other with 400 tons.

Currently, the plant operates 32 presses of 200-2,000 tons.

"We want to lower machine hours, get more productivity in molding and use value-added stuff," Dowling said. A Kaizen event is part of the plans.

UPM has extended its range of customer services in providing third-party logistics, typically involving toy or houseware products.

UPM began this kind of work around 2011, initially with one customer.

"For certain customers, UPM has become their contract manufacturing arm on the West Coast," Dowling said.

UPM can build out a product, add plastic content and provide labeling, custom packaging and direct-to-retailer shipping.

Of its largest customers, UPM handles logistics for those ranking first, third, fifth and sixth. Two of them are new customers.

UPM obtains its prototype molds and some production tools from 3D printing and rapid machining specialist Forecast 3D of Carlsbad, Calif.

For most production molds, UPM outsources 90 percent to a shop in China with a Los Angeles office. Mold makers in the U.S. and Austria produce the remainder of UPM's tools.

In a creative tool-related development, UPM has an arrangement with a customer to share a mold between the Baldwin Park facility in California and another molder with an East Coast site.

Production on each coast shortens the delivery distance for the final product.

Family-owned UPM recorded sales of $24.8 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Dowling projects sales of $26 million for the current fiscal year. About 80 percent of the sales reach the West Coast market.

Capital investments totaled about $500,000 for the 2017 fiscal year, and plans call for capital spending of about $1.5 million during the 2018 fiscal year.

Raymond Dowling cofounded UPM in Southern California with two partners in 1962. Initially, they operated one machine in a garage in Azusa. UPM operated next in Irwindale and moved to Baldwin Park in 1978. By the mid-1980s, he was the sole owner. Raymond Dowling died in August 2013 at the age of 80.

Jason Dowling is now president and his brother, Steve, is vice president of operations, which continues the Dowling family legacy in the business.