Newly branded Springboard Manufacturing has added California injection molding and mold making capabilities, and constructed a new North Carolina production facility.
Springboard targets medical device molding as a major objective.
Springboard, doing business legally as Kruger Plastic Products LLC, purchased Bob Brewer's majority ownership of Northern California Injection Molding LLC and El Dorado Molds LLC, both in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Brewer, who started his career as a machinist apprentice, established El Dorado Molds in 1989 and NCIM in 1997, and served as principal owner and president of both entities until closing of the Jan. 15 sale.
For the next iteration, principals spent time considering the new branding, eventually settling on Springboard Manufacturing. Those deliberations, in turn, delayed disclosure of the California transaction.
This “transformative acquisition” provides growth potential for all of Springboard operations, said Matthew Moran, managing partner of Chicago-based portfolio owner HC Private Investments which owns Springboard.
“As a private investment firm, we are always evaluating potential investments” through internal growth and complementary add-on acquisitions, Moran said in a joint telephone interview.
The goal in the latest acquisition was to achieve “comprehensive geographic coverage” across the United States, said Doug Constable, Springboard CEO.
Now, “we have a world-class facility in California,” Constable said.
In December 2017, HCPI acquired family-owned Kruger with sites in Bridgman, Buchanan and Galien, Mich.
Subsequently through Kruger, HCPI has invested in building a Greensboro, N.C., facility that could “easily fit 100 machines,” he noted.
Constable said the North Carolina operation, beginning soon, initially will occupy 100,000 square feet of the building's 190,000 square feet. The design was intended to allow the facility to eventually qualify for requirements under the ISO 13485 standard for medical devices.
In its own initiative, NCIM is nearing its final ISO 13485 audit in California.
Plans are underway to obtain ISO 13485 standing for Kruger's two Michigan production facilities in Bridgman and Galien.
Across the portfolio, “our goal is to develop ISO 13485 to attract the end market for medical devices,” Constable said.
Going forward, the brand Springboard Manufacturing will replace all of the Kruger, NCIM and El Dorado identities.
As with Kruger, HCPI acquired NCIM and El Dorado Molds in partnership with the ongoing management team including Glen Shrigley, the longtime vice president of operations for both businesses.
NCIM and El Dorado Molds employ about 150, occupy 93,800 square feet in Rancho Cordova and focus on the medical, industrial and heavy-duty diesel engine markets. NCIS occupies about 75 percent of the space, and El Dorado Molds uses the rest.
In mid-2012, the California operations moved from separate locations into facility on 3.7 acres. Brewer continues to own the building.
NCIS operates 37 injection molding presses with clamping forces of 40-501 tons. The machines carry the Nissei, Arburg, Engel and TKC brands.
Clean room capabilities include a 1,100-square-foot Class 8 space with seven injection molding machines and a portable 256-square-foot Class 8 unit with a two-press capacity.
El Dorado Molds operates six Charmilles Robofil and Roboform machines; DMG Mori, Makino and BostoMatic computer-numerical-control machining centers; and two robot-linked Mikron high-speed milling machines.
NCIM and El Dorado Molds jointly utilize integrated enterprise-resource-planning software from the IQMS business of Dassault Systèmes SE and operate a free-standing two-ton single-bridge Demag crane.
On Feb. 5 at the UBM Advanced Manufacturing expo in Anaheim, Calif., Shrigley said that NCIM and El Dorado Molds recently added two sales representative: Brian Flynn in New York and Frank Petruso in Florida.
Springboard said its combined businesses currently operate more than 100 injection molding machines of 40-1,300 tons and employ about 250 persons.
Oak Hill Securities Inc. of Oklahoma City served as financial adviser to NCIM and El Dorado Molds, and Twin Brook Capital Partners of Chicago provided debt financing for the transaction.
HCPI invests capital from Chicago-based trading firm HC Technologies LLC.
