Material distributor Midwest Resins expands

Roseville, Mich. — Midwest Resin Inc. recently added a mechanical testing laboratory and blending capabilities at its 14,000-square-foot facility in Roseville.

The 11-year-old resin distributor is seeing steady growth and is already considering plans to move into a larger plant, according to founder and President William Hughes.

"We'll probably need a new building in the next year or two. We're bursting at the seams here," Hughes said in an interview at the company headquarters located just outside of Detroit.

The company, which does business as Midwest Resins, started in 2008 and moved to the current location in 2014.

The new laboratory includes a 75-ton Van Dorn injection molding machine and tooling to mold ASTM-standard test plaques.

Testing capabilities include tensile and flexural properties, izod impact strength, melt flow rate, density and specific gravity, ash content, durometer hardness and melting point.

"We sell a lot of virgin and recycled products. We can test on-site now," Hughes said. "We test every lot that comes in. Our turnaround is very quick. The service end is important."

The testing laboratory improves quality control and also helps Midwest Resins do research and development and troubleshooting for its customers, Hughes said. The company can also provide certificates of analysis to customers.

The firm also added a 1,000-pound-capacity batch blender along with a Gaylord dumper and several hoppers, for small-batch blending of colorants and additives.

"For people who are in the molding business, they need to have a small distributor that can get creative with materials, that can offer them some less expensive options and just handle things a lot quicker," said Dean Trombetta, the company's quality manager.

"We have a lot of small customers who send us an email at 4 o'clock and say we need a box of nylon tomorrow morning. We put it on the truck in the morning and take it over there," Trombetta said.

Most of the company's customers are small injection molders in the Midwest, but it ships material around the country and to larger molders, too. Hughes is seeing strong demand from the automotive and recreational vehicle sectors.

The company sells a wide variety of materials including commodity and recycled resins, and also engineering materials.