Plastics News has published our 24th annual ranking of North American thermoformers with the top 100 in this week's issue. We've got data for all 225 companies online.
Our ranking includes nearly $13.2 billion in North American thermoforming sales, 5.6 percent more than last year's ranking, plus there are 12 noted acquisitions.
Seems like the firms were split between flat sales and 12 percent growth, with industrial firms doing slightly better at 13 percent average growth. Most resin pricing was down from 2017 with the exception of PP which increased 16.4 percent.
Looking back 10 years to 2008, the 2018 fiscal year represents a 45 percent increase in ranked sales.
Looking back to our first published ranking for fiscal 1994, the average sales per company has risen a whopping 355 percent.
The chart at the bottom of the blog shows sales growth against the gain in average sales per company.
And here are a couple of items that stand out beyond the numbers:
• Happy 36th Anniversary to Floe International Inc. of McGregor, Minn.
• This year marks Plastics News' 30th anniversary 1989-2019, just for fun, I took a look at who is ranked in the No. 30 spot this year, say hello to Inline Plastics Corp., a food packaging thermoformer in Shelton, Conn.
Inline has been in business over 50 years and according to their website "Your complete satisfaction is our top priority"
Corporate doggie Lemon is listed as the chief fun officer.
PN's Data Chairman Scoose knows how to supervise.
In case you were wondering if dogs at work are common ...I can tell you that Plastics News' data chairman is Scoose.
We've written about Inline before, here and here
These firms moved up in the ranking this year:
• Formed Solutions Inc. of Holland, Mich., moved up 24 to rank at No. 141.
• Tru-Form Plastics of Westminster, Calif., moved up 19 to rank at No. 78.
• Rohrer Corp. of Wadsworth, Ohio, moved up 16 to rank at No. 21.
• Thermoforms Inc. of Kentwood, Mich., moved up 15 to rank at No. 168.
• Advantage Plastics of New York Inc. of Winter Haven, Fla., moved up 13 to rank at No. 159.
• Empire West Inc. of Graton, Calif., moved up 13 to rank at No. 98.
• Freetech Plastics Inc. of Fremont, Calif., moved up 11 to rank at No. 107.
• FastForming.com LLC of Rittman, Ohio, moved up 11 to rank at No. 196 .
• Spencer Industries Inc. of Dale, Ind., moved up 10 to rank at No. 36.
• Hagans Plastics Co. Inc. of Grand Prairie, Texas, moved up nine to rank at No. 117.
Welcome to the ranking! The following firms have been added this year:
• Bemis Healthcare Packaging Inc. of Neenah, Wis.
• Blackbourn of Edgerton, Minn.
• Eck Plastic Arts Inc. of Binghamton, N.Y.
• Pinnpack Packaging LLC of Oxnard, Calif.
• PolyFlex Products Inc. of Farmington Hills, Mich.
Recently I took a look at the Society of Plastics Engineers' past Thermoformer of the Year award recipients, 18 of which were North American processors. Most of them have appeared in our ranking. Follow this link for more information on SPE's annual conference in September.
You can see all the companies we ranked at online.
The thermoformers rankings — and all our rankings & lists downloads — include full ranking data and address information for plant locations. These can be found in the Plastics News store.
If you work for a company that is missing from the ranking, we would like to include you next time. Just sent a note to Hollee Keller at [email protected] or mail your information to Plastics News, P.O. Box 790, Tallmadge, Ohio 44278. All our survey forms are available online at www.plasticsnews.com/section/ranking-surveys.
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