Fresh off being named a finalist for Plastics News Processor of the Year, Redline Plastics LLC has made an acquisition to boost its rotational molding capacity.
Manitowoc, Wis.-based Redline Plastics announced March 20 that it has purchased Quality Holdings LLC, a rotomolder and compression molder in Hartwell, Ga.
"The main reason for the deal was to expand our rotomolding footprint throughout the United States and gain access to different regions," Redline President Nick Murray said in an email to Plastics News.
"There was some overlap of customers and markets, however, both businesses are diversified enough to be able to hold their own in the region where they are located," he said.
Quality Holdings has a 144,000-square-foot facility in Hartwell with 60 employees. The factory will remain open and the 60 employees will be retained under the Redline Plastics name.
The deal does not impact the current Redline workforce of 150 employees in Wisconsin.
"As we got to know the team, we were happy to find similar values and to begin developing relationships with the folks at Redline [Georgia] that we think will benefit both locations in the long term," Murray said.
Quality Holdings was privately held by a group of investors who had purchased the company, which was formerly known as Quality Industries, in 2015. President and CEO Jeff Thomas will remain with the company for several months to facilitate the transition.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition fits into Redline Plastics' strategy to build capacity in rotational molding and diversify into additional plastics specialization. Adding compression molding will bring new opportunities in new markets, according to Redline.
Redline has a 225,000-square-foot factory in Manitowoc. The facility does rotomolding, thermoforming, commercial sewing and fiberglass-reinforced plastics, and the company is owned by Chuck Webster.
Redline posted 2022 sales of $33 million. That includes $23 million from plastics processing, including rotomolding and thermoforming.
Quality Holdings ranked No. 52 in PN's 2022 rotomolders issue with estimated sales of $10 million.
The Georgia plant serves the railroad industry, which is a new market for Redline. It also owns a design portfolio of several rotationally molded large material handling trucks and containers for laundry, retail and other applications that are sold to industrial supply companies.
Murray said Redline plans to "devote capital towards people and process improvements that will drive incremental improvement in the overall business."
"Over the next several months, the Redline Manitowoc team will work with the [Georgia] team to prioritize those items needing attention to make our business and the people within it stronger," he said.
In addition to being a Processor of the Year finalist, Redline was also winner of the PN Excellence Award for Employee Relations. The company has also been a Plastics News Best Place to Work for three years in a row, and this year finished in second place among North American processors.