Saffran sees opportunities in plastics medical molding

After a fire burned Stelray Products Inc. to the ground in 1974, Larry Saffran's father saw what no one else could — opportunity.

Working as president at the time of the fire, Mortimore Saffran decided to buy the Connecticut business from a small partnership based in New Jersey that was not interested in re-investing in Stelray.

"My dad bought the ashes and built it back up. He rented machine time from local companies. He bought a building in 1978," Larry Saffran said of Stelray, which is headquartered in Ansonia, Conn.

"He was up and running full bore by 1978," he said, pointing out that Larry and Mort (as he was called) changed the official name of the company to Stelray Plastic Products Inc.

Larry Saffran, now a second-generation owner, came to work for his father in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in industrial technology, an MBA and experience as a plastics engineer. Bringing Larry onboard as general manager allowed Mort to hand off day-to-day operations to his son while Mort worked next door at a metal stamping business he also owned.

"When I started as general manager, we were mostly a commodity-type molder. But through sales efforts and industry knowledge, we moved more toward engineering applications and higher-end materials. We got more into nylons, polycarbonates and polyesters," said Saffran, who rose from GM to vice president to president in his first 10 years at Stelray.

Stelray made a strategic move in 1997 with the purchase of Aero Med Molding Technologies, which was based in Orleans, Mass., on Cape Cod.

"That launched us more into medical and aerospace. It was a nice move that is still paying dividends to this day. We got a good customer base. The downside for me was I was an absentee owner for that business with a lot of shuttling back and forth [between Massachusetts and Connecticut]," Saffran said.

By 2004, Saffran had moved the Aero Med business completely to Connecticut and put everything under the Stelray brand. In addition, he sold off the metal stamping business, which allowed Stelray to move into that facility and expand its manufacturing footprint to 35,000 square feet from 15,000 square feet.

"We took the initial Stelray building and made that a dedicated molding facility. All machines and quality control are in the first building. All non-core, support, tooling and offices are in the metal stamping building," he said.

Today, Stelray is a $6 million-a-year business and Saffran believes the injection molder has a bright future based on recent results.

Stelray's sales will grow by 8 percent to 10 percent this year, he said, as the company invests it in digital and social media marketing along with participating in two or three trade shows per year.

"For a while, we were a well-kept secret," said Saffran, who leads the company's sales ​ efforts with most customers in the Northeast and along the Atlantic corridor.

Stelray added two Wittmann Battenfeld 60-ton injection molding machines in the last couple months, Saffran said, to handle new business in the electronics and security sectors. By mid-year, Stelray plans to add a 450-ton machine, which would be its largest press. Saffran believes medical molding holds the biggest growth potential for Stelray and hopes to upgrade his clean area to a fully blown clean room at some point.

"We're really not that far away," he said.

Saffran has five direct reports and a workforce of 44 at Stelray. He considers himself a hands-on owner who is passionate about customer service.

"I'm a relatively easy-going guy, but people here understand my role," he said.

Saffran is the youngest of five children and said he was the only one crazy enough to jump in and take on Stelray when the opportunity presented itself years ago. Now that he's in the owner's seat, what keeps him up at night?

"A lot of things can, but the biggest thing is the challenge to continue to develop toolmaker talent in our tool room. It's a challenging undertaking to find younger people to replace our aging toolmakers. It's frustrating because it seems like we lost an entire generation of workers. The ones that are replacing them now are very green talent. We are looking to invest in young apprentices. Tooling is such a critical part of this game. Having molding machines on your floor is not a big deal; tooling, that's a real key. We use offshore, domestic and in-house tooling. But we need a strong base of in-house support."