LC Industries buys new machine with very specific requirements

When it comes time to replace machines, processors want to upgrade their manufacturing facilities without using more of their precious production floor.

For most, it's a matter of maximized space utilization. But for LC Industries Inc., it's also a matter of maintained logistics for the 350 visually impaired and blind employees who are part of the 750-person workforce.

Originally named Lions Club Industries for the Blind Inc. after the civic group that founded the nonprofit corporation in 1936, LCI is one of the largest U.S. employers of people who are blind. Based in Durham, N.C., the company has seven manufacturing divisions, including one that produces plastic products ranging from desk accessories to mop parts with an extruder, a 30-year-old blow molding machine and 20 injection molding presses.

Called the Improved B30, the decades-old blow molder makes five-gallon high density polyethylene water jugs for LCI's 35 retail outlets and online store.

Company officials visited NPE2018 in Orlando, Fla., to find a replacement for the old press. They said it was just as important to grab a tape measure as the checkbook in their effort to boost output in a compact space at their plant in Hazelhurst, Miss.

"There are many ways we outfit our facilities for safety," LCI Chief Operating Officer Patrick Lindsey said in a phone interview. "The more we can keep the same footprint for a machine, the better it is. Then we don't have to reconfigure anything, and our employees don't have to learn a new layout of the facility."

LCI found a machine that measures up to its performance and space needs in the Mini Hercules, an 8-pound shot size, single-head system for small industrial applications built by Graham Engineering Corp. in York, Pa. The sale of the machine "came out of the blue," Gina Haines, Graham's vice president and chief marketing officer, told Plastics News.

"They were pulling a tape [measure] on it and talking back to their factory to be positive it would fit in exactly the same footprint. It did, so we were in good shape," Haines said of the machine that measures 15 feet by 11 feet and is 15 feet high.

A couple other considerations gave Graham and its Mini Hercules an edge, Lindsey said, pointing to years of service and support on the B30, which Graham also built, and a faster cycle time that will allow LCI to produce 40 containers an hour.

"Last year we produced about 50,000 5-gallon water cans out of our B30," Lindsey said. "With this one, we should be up to the 75,000-100,000-capability range. We have multiple buyers: No. 1 is the federal Department of Defense. Look on the back of every military Humvee and you see two cans: a 5-gallon fuel can and the 5-gallon water can."

LC also sells the drinking water jugs, which come in olive green or tan color, through military base stores and online for about $24.

"Our can is the heaviest duty can on the market," Lindsey said. "There are YouTube videos of guys jumping up and down on it. Hunters and outdoorsmen use them for all sorts of activities. Some rig them up in a tree, put a spout on them and use them for showers."

The water containers are produced in Hazelhurst, which also houses the extruder and 18 injection molding machines. The facility is one of two in the plastics division — the other is in Durham — manufacturing everything from plastic-wrapped plastic ware for the troops to its own brand of Tactical Assault Gear for the military and law enforcement.

LCI employees who are visually impaired operate the B30 and will be trained to use the Mini Hercules, which is equipped with Graham's XBM Navigator control system and a 15-inch touch-screen panel.

"A visually impaired person can use it," Lindsey said. "Most people don't realize there are multiple diseases out there. Some have limited vision — like looking through a straw — but through that limited field of vision, they can see 20/20. Some have macular degenerative disease, where the center vision is blurred but peripheral vision is clear. We find the jobs that suit them."

The water jugs come out onto a table with safety switches for trimming and then are packaged and shipped to distribution centers in Durham and Las Vegas. The centers carry 4,800 products for government, military and commercial customers.

LCI manufactures more than 400 items on the federal procurement list as part of the AbilityOne program. Lindsey said the customer relationship with the DOD and supply stores at air force and army bases is particularly significant to some employees.

"We've got some veterans who are blind and visually impaired, and others, who, because of their vision, could never be part of the military," he explained. "Making products for the military to use is their way of giving back to the country. And one of the coolest aspects of our job is that most products we make are for the military."

Like LCI's product line, Graham's technology has come a long way in 30 years. The Mini Hercules was designed to be a replacement for the hundreds of aging B30s out there. The new version is available in 2.5-, 5-, or 8-pound shot sizes in single- or dual-head configuration. It has a proprietary spiral diverter for continuous internal cleaning during production and a 1-hour color change for most materials.

The first ones shipped in mid-2015 after that year's NPE, so Graham officials had really been looking forward to exhibiting the Mini Hercules at NPE2018.

"It is an added thrill to receive an order for it at the show," Graham President and CEO Dave Schroeder said in a news release.

LCI plans to refurbish its Improved B30 and use it for contract manufacturing, which it already does on the injection molding side of the plastics unit.

In addition to processing plastics, LCI employees work in divisions for paper office products, mattresses, housewares, kit assembly and custom stamping. The corporation is the supporting organization of the LCI Foundation, which provides grants to charitable groups that support people who are blind.

LCI employees with vision problems say work opportunities are more than a source of income. In a video on the company's website, George Mason talks about the satisfaction of helping shoppers who walk into supply centers from Fort Drum in New York to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

"I know the store as well as anyone, so I can direct a customer to any product we have on the shelf," Mason says. "It's given me my dignity back."