American Plastic Toys sold as new platform company

A 62-year-old U.S.-based plastic toy company has a new owner who is excited about the business.

Effective Feb. 16, American Plastic Toys Inc., based in Walled Lake, Mich., was acquired by Northville Plastics Inc., a new platform company headed by Jon Carlson.

"We're very excited. It's a great fit for us," Carlson said in an interview with Plastics News.

American Plastic Toys was founded by Littleton and Yoquelet families in 1962. The company has about 200 employees and 45 injection presses, with plants in Walled Lake; Rose City, Mich.; and Olive Branch, Miss.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

John Gessert, who joined the company in 1982, is staying on as president, along with the rest of the management team. David Littleton, the company chairman, will maintain his office at the Walled Lake location and will assist in the transition for the balance of 2024.

"David Littleton is excited to transfer the company to a next chapter, to people who know the plastics business and are very excited about toys. We like the product," Carlson said.

In a letter to employees, Littleton said "the post-pandemic years have been difficult for APT to regain the market share we held prior to COVID."

He called Northville Plastics "a local company founded by a group of seasoned investors who have been dedicated to the domestic plastics industry for nearly a decade. American Plastic Toys is the fifth plastics company that the local team has successfully partnered with.

"This new opportunity provides a way for us to coordinate and cooperate with several other plastic companies and to work with experienced plastic professionals to continue to revitalize American Plastic Toys," Littleton said.

Carlson emphasized that Northville Plastics is a separate platform company from his other plastics businesses and has different investors. He is also president of Northville-based private equity firm Orchard Creek Capital LLC, which has acquired four plastics company since 2018.

Selected Orchard Creek-owned plastics companies will do some molding for American Plastic Toys, Carlson said. And Northville Plastics plans to operate all three APT plants.

"Our principal move is we're going to be adding key senior management," Carlson said.

Carlson, who has a background in financial management in manufacturing, including 10 years at Ford Motor Co., said it took about six months to complete this deal. He and Gessert are longtime friends.

APT's operations are large — the Olive Branch plant has 475,000 square feet of space and Walled Lake has 375,000 square feet. All the plants do molding and assembly, and the two larger facilities are also the company's primary distribution centers. The plants operate three shifts and warehouse toys throughout the year for the busy Christmas season.

American Plastic Toys primarily serves mass merchants such as Walmart, Target and Amazon. In addition to its own branded toys, it also makes private-label toys for some key customers.

Carlson said having proprietary products was attractive to the Northville Plastics investors.

In plastics circles, APT is well known for participating in an annual free toy partnership in Detroit that's coordinated with the Society of Plastics Engineers. The company has made well over 1 million toys for that project.

Orchard Creek's plastics businesses are Classic Die Inc. in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Tool Technology Corp. in Inman, S.C.; Advantage Plastics of New York Inc. in Winter Haven, Fla.; and Action Molding Inc. of Grand Rapids.