Viking Plastics has acquired Genesis Plastics and Engineering LLC, an injection molder in Indiana that makes interior automotive parts such as plastic door and seat components and other custom injection molded products.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Genesis will be rebranded as Viking Plastics.
Genesis has two plants in Indiana: a 120,000-square-foot molding facility in Scottsburg and a 45,000-square-foot tool build facility in Jeffersonville, just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky.
Genesis ranks No. 188 on Plastics News' annual listing of North American injection molders, with estimated sales of $31 million in 2017. The company, established in 1995, was previously owned by President and CEO Jim Gladden.
Going forward, Gladden will stay on as vice president of the Indiana operations, according to Viking Plastics President and CEO Kelly Goodsel.
"We see this as a way to diversify not only some customer base opportunities, but also some product capabilities," Goodsel said in a June 26 phone interview. "For example, Viking Plastics … has traditionally been an under-the-hood fuel, HVAC, industrial molding, tight tolerance, functional kind of supplier, and Genesis tends to be more of an interior trim, cosmetic, grain, stipple, appearance kind of supplier."
Bringing the functional and cosmetic capabilities of the two companies together, Goodsel explained, will help grow Viking Plastics' current customer base and enable new opportunities to gain customers.
"Genesis brings the MuCell [microcellular foam molding] and structural foam abilities, and we bring two-shot and insert molding capabilities, so there will be some sharing of those technologies as well," he added.
In addition, the acquisition brings tool building capabilities to Viking Plastics.
"In light of the recent tariff announcement and more and more reshoring of tooling work, we believe that is a great capability to have to be able to offer our customers," Goodsel said.
Viking Plastics is headquartered in Corry, Pa., and primarily serves the automotive, industrial and heating and air conditioning markets. Customers include automakers such as General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV as well as Tier 1 suppliers.
With its acquisition of Genesis, Goodsel said the company has gained customers in the Japanese automotive supply chain, among them Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
In April 2017, Viking Plastics bought Kentucky Manufacturing & Technology LLC, a manufacturer of high-precision custom injection molded products for the specialty packaging, appliance and filtration markets.
"We've got an organic growth component, and we also have an acquisitive component," Goodsel said of the company's business strategy. "If the right pieces come along and the right market segments, geographical segments, then yeah, we're still looking to do some add-on acquisitions."
Viking Plastics ranks No. 201 on PN's most recent listing of North American injection molders. The company, which now employs a total of 412, reported injection molding sales of $28 million in 2017.
The company also has ownership stakes in two injection molding companies: one in São Paulo, Brazil, and the other in Suzhou, China.
Since 2016, Viking Plastics has been owned by Minneapolis-based private equity firm Spell Capital Partners LLC.