Apprentices add value to Processor of the Year Intertech Plastics

Denver — CareerWise, a broad-reaching apprenticeship program that started in Colorado, is moving to other states, and apprenticeships are getting bipartisan attention from presidential candidates. And it all began at a small custom injection molder in Denver, Intertech Plastics Inc. — the latest Plastics News Processor of the Year.

Noel Ginsburg and two partners founded the company in 1980 when they bought the assets of a local molding plant that was closing. Intertech was originally named Container Industries, and it molded pails for the food industry. Ginsburg had developed the business plan for a college project at the University of Denver.

He renamed the company Intertech Plastics in 1995, to highlight its position as a custom molder.

These days, Ginsburg spends his time on CareerWise, which is modeled after apprenticeships in Switzerland and now covers much more than advanced manufacturing. It includes three-year apprenticeships in education, hospitality, business operations, information technology and health care. Coming up next will be automotive technician, property management and facilities management, according to Noel's son, Corey Ginsburg, who is Intertech's director of sales.

But the activism in apprentices keeps paying off at Intertech. The company recruits many of them from local high school robotics clubs, especially Eaglecrest High School, where Intertech sponsors the team with $5,000 and executives attend the spirited competitions.

In an industry struggling to attract skilled young people, Intertech is well-placed with a long-term pipeline of talent, President Jim Kepler said.

"Our apprentices have not only allowed us to build a sustainable workforce, but accelerate our ability to implement new ideas, processes and automation at a pace that previously wasn't possible," he said.

Kevin King, the company's first apprentice, is now a full-time automation technician. Intertech is paying for his engineering degree. King spearheads projects like a two-camera vision system and automation for a combination picnic table/bench that guarantees employees pack all the right parts in the box — and saves an image of each finished one, for proof it was done right. A six-axis Fanuc robot moves the box through a taping station and stacks them.

Kepler said it was King's idea to do the turnkey automation system, which became fully operational in January. Now, he said, rather than assigning specific projects, Intertech is giving its apprentices more responsibility to identify opportunities for reducing labor costs or cutting scrap.

The high school interns take their ideas to Chief Financial Officer Robert Edwards, who runs the numbers with them on data such as percent labor content and annual costs, looking at the return on investment.

"They've had a substantive impact on us and good financial implications," Edwards said. "They'll source from the vendors, they design everything in SolidWorks and then go out on the floor and actually build it."

The apprenticeship program sets Intertech apart — as well as using the 4DX process to make big strategic decisions. Both have worked together to improve profitability while holding down costs at Intertech, which generated sales of $25 million in 2019.

But so does the molding, replete with vision systems, robots and some advanced in-mold labeling. Intertech runs 50 injection molding machines, about evenly split between two plants: Intertech Medical, with clean room molding, and Intertech Plastics, which handles custom molding of consumer and industrial products. Clamping forces range from 35-1,500 tons. Most of the machines are Toyos, but the company also runs some Husky and Milacron presses.

Intertech employs 130. A third of them have been with the company for more than nine years. And a year ago, one of the big 4DX WIGs ("wildly important goals") was to build a team of leadership employees to support bumped-up sales of $30 million and more, by hiring people to fill 14 key positions.

"We were certainly stretching our workforce and our team, so we had to make some investments to grow to the next level," Kepler said. "I would say we're really trying to increase our technical bench strength in engineering, quality and operations to then support the revenue growth. Because that's really where the execution is, where you'll be successful or not successful is on that front end of design/build alignment during that new product introduction of revenue opportunities."

It kept Human Resources Manager Jen Lockman busy. She color-codes her calendar, and it looked like a rainbow. Kepler noted the company's painstaking hiring process for the right cultural fit, even more than job skills experience. "They're high-level people, and we're extremely picky," he said.

Plastics News presented Intertech officials with the award and honored this year's finalists at a dinner Feb. 26 during the newspaper's Executive Forum in Naples, Fla. Intertech Plastics was a finalist for last year's Processor of the Year Award, which was won by MTD Micro Molding of Charlton, Mass.

Last year, Intertech also won a PN Excellence Award for industry and public service at the forum, largely because of Noel Ginsburg's work on CareerWise, starting the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, and his and his wife Leslie's work on the state's I Have a Dream Foundation that helps at-risk students.

Scott Walton, chief operating officer of Harbour Results Inc., nominated Intertech for Processor of the Year.

The judges for Processor of the Year — Plastics News editorial staffers — said the employee relations area was Intertech's strongest, by far. Eight apprentices worked at the molder last year. Plans call for 11 this year, bringing their youthful enthusiasm and automation smarts.

Intertech does an annual employee survey, and the results help company leaders improve. One WIG was to boost an already strong level of employee engagement, which now scores 87 percent.

Lockman said Intertech more than doubled its training budget in 2018, to $74,000. And in 2019, it jumped to $96,000.

Intertech made another big move last year, putting its training and competency-based system on PayCom. Employees already were comfortable using the cloud-based PayCom for checking pay and benefits.

"We just recognized that we needed to change our training system. It wasn't as effective as we wanted it to be," Kepler said. The paper system required someone to dig through records to check on an employee's training record. "It was just really difficult and cumbersome. So we needed to really look at changing things and also accommodating to how we have multiple shifts that operate 24/7," he said.

As part of the 4DX project to become one of the best places to work, company officials focused on goals of safety, quality and process control. A strong training effort is central.

They refreshed the organizational chart to align job descriptions to the business plan. "And then last year, we had our WIG. So, as part of that, we had to review every job description and make sure that everything was accurate and up to date; we created what we call a skills matrix for every position, which is essentially a list of if you come in and you're an operator, these are the things that you need to be trained in to be successful in your role," Kepler said. The skills matrix covered other types of positions as well.

Lockman said they created interactive training materials and quizzes for each job — in English and Spanish — got them into PayCom and pushed them out to all employees, who each have a login password.

The training via PayCom includes safety-specific to say, a machine operator or maintenance technician or forklift driver.

Lockman said the company also posts work instructions. Intertech can pull together PowerPoints, YouTube videos and other means of communication. The company also brings in outside trainers.

Results from the individualized training are included in an employee's annual review.

Lockman said the plan is to create a detailed career path and, in the future, tie the competency-based training to specific job advancement and pay raises. Intertech already has the infrastructure in place with PayCom.

One of the 14 strategic new hires is Lionel Buenaventura, director of operations at the Intertech Plastics plant. He relocated to Denver early in 2019, after retiring from a management career at big companies like Johnson Controls Inc. and United Technologies Carrier. None of those jobs was in plastics, but Intertech snapped him up in fall 2019. Kepler called Buenaventura "one of the strongest hires that we've ever had, and he's really provided guidance on that culture of safety and lean."

His first task was posting large numbers on each of the injection molding machines so he knew where to go in the plant. Then he got to work on safety.

Buenaventura pushed a "visible factory" by painting safety lanes on the floor for pedestrians and clearly delineated walking areas with guardrails. Even before he got there, Intertech had already installed LED lighting on forklifts to clearly designate boundaries and retrofitted them with wireless impact sensors and collision-avoidance devices — moves that netted the company a Safety Best Award in 2019 from the Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors.

Kepler said safety is important: "Our safety record is very strong. But one accident is one too many." Management got a wake-up call when two veteran employees were involved in a forklift accident. The safety committee and leadership team got busy, looking at material flow and reorganizing injection presses. "We knew we had to because if somebody as seasoned as these two were involved in this accident could get hurt, what about a new employee coming through the door, or a temp worker that's just fresh into this environment? Do they really understand the risks?" Kepler said.

Extensive safety training is part of the onboarding process for new workers.

Buenaventura also brought a big-company practice to Intertech: the weekly Gemba walk. Every Monday after the production meeting, a dozen company leaders pick a checklist and walk around an area of the plant. The safety committee does a separate walk-through, filling out detailed forms.

It hasn't been easy to get Intertech to the position it holds today. In the early 2000s, it faced a cash squeeze when a big customer did not pay for its products; the molder cut costs and survived, retaining all other customers and key employees.

Sales hit a robust $29.4 million in 2015. But one customer accounted for more than half of sales and was not contributing to bottom line as Intertech didn't have much leverage on negotiating prices.

The companies parted ways. Intertech laid off about 30 workers, and sales took a big hit. Today, company officials said, Intertech is in its strongest financial position ever, with little debt and a solid capital spending plan.

One big reason is that back in 2013, Kepler had led a move to diversify the company and beef up engineering expertise and technology to mold tight-tolerance parts. That same year, Intertech added medical molding by purchasing Image Molding Inc. in Denver. That resulted in adding jobs, as Intertech increased medical-plant employment. The company also invested in automation, such as a work cell that could quickly measure 204 holes in one part right after molding, instead of using six quality people to check them with a coordinate measuring machine.

In 2017 and 2018, Intertech invested $4 million to buy 14 all-electric Toyos from 55-750 tons and 22 Wittmann robots, plus auxiliary equipment to support automated quality systems that use vision and integrated process control. The company added seven more Toyos and four Wittmann robots in 2019.

Zero defects is the goal of any manufacturing operation. In 2019, Intertech was rebranded with the theme "Part Perfect" and rolled out a redesigned website and logo.

Technology that can check every single part right at the press makes it happen. One example is an investment in Keyence vision technology and RJG mold sensing on a baby changing station to meet new assembly demands from a long-term customer. Another is the picnic/table bench, a hot seller on QVC.

Intertech tapped into Colorado's legal marijuana sector by doing in-mold labeling on a round, cigar-shaped tube that holds a joint. Company officials say it's the world's smallest-diameter part for IML. The production line includes a high-speed Brink IML system to place labels in the mold and remove parts with a side-entry robot, and Keyence vision, tied to a new 150-ton Toyo press.

Now Intertech is working on molding the tube using compostable and biodegradable resins, including the label. The company is partnering with material suppliers and universities.

The effort and capital spending have paid off in quality production. Defective parts per million have declined companywide, especially in the medical molding plant, where PPM's have declined nearly 70 percent since 2016. "The majority of that is the Keyence vision system. We've moved quality compliance inspection to the machine, not to the lab," Kepler said.

It all helps to build good customer relations. Customers told the Processor of the Year judges that Intertech forges long-term partnerships and praised employees for responding quickly to any issues. That level of customer service is the reason one customer moved work to Intertech from a competitor "that lost the ability to communicate."

"We talk to them all the time from an engineering standpoint and discuss things that are happening," said an official at another customer. "We're in constant communication with them." Another customer said his company sends new parts to Intertech instead of the firm's other molders, "because they're equipped to do it."

Intertech encourages customers to complete a monthly supplier report card and conducts quarterly business review meetings.

The medical plant is eliminating paper documents and getting ready for a major expansion. Intertech Medical is phasing in the Shop Floor data module of the company's IQMS system.

"It is allowing us to go paperless and all of the presses. All our work orders will be paperless. All of our process sheets. Everything that's attached into it, as well as tasking in and tasking out and certification for employees," said Kate Hale, the director of operations at Intertech Medical. Shop Floor also can handle quality information and will be able to track scrap — even showing the reason for rejected parts, she said.

Each press still has paper files, and work orders are manually printed out. But each press is getting two monitors, one for work instructions, the other for Shop Floor. "We can have anything that the techs need to set up the machines," Hale said.

For medical molding, another major benefit is ensuring proper certification for employees, who log into a press and then have to answer a series of questions about the specific work center and product. "It's not going to allow you to continue to work in this press unless you're certified to this work order," she said. Those records will make audits easier; no more digging through paper.

Hale is one of those 14 critical hires. She joined Intertech early in 2019, after working at Terumo BCT, a medical products company specializing in goods for blood and cells, holding positions in manufacturing, supply chain and business operations. Intertech Medical molds products such as single-use parts for fluid testing.

Justin Gomness, an automation engineer, is taking a major role in the redesign of the medical clean room that will include space for eight more injection presses when it opens in the first quarter of 2021. Gomness, a mechanically inclined electrician, has moved up quickly in four and a half years at Intertech. He started as an entry-level material handler, then became a setup technician, a process tech and a maintenance position before his current job.

Gomness has designed an elevated conveyor system to move boxes of parts outside of the clean room to a packaging area, equipped with a series of special lights to ensure everything is correct.

The medical plant is very automated. MAPP gave Intertech a first place Innovation Award in 2017, for automation that resulted in improved customer satisfaction. Designed and built in-house, the system resulted in zero defects for a medical device customer.

Intertech already ties IQMS into its operating budgets. The vision systems, coupled with IQMS, will send hard data to the accounting department. Edwards, the CFO, said more advanced real-time data will help the company improve financially. "My vision is that our group is not just calculating and reporting numbers, but analyzing numbers and providing the directors with the information they need to run an effective operation," he said.

Another member of the new 14 hires is Michael Klestinec, hired late last year as business development manager for the Intertech Plastics operation. Kepler said the company already knew Klestinec from his family's Dollins Tool in Missouri, a maker of molds for thin-wall packaging. Intertech hired him after Switzerland's Mold & Robotics Group acquired Dollins and CBW Automation Inc.

Kepler said it's good to have a tooling expert drumming up new business. "Tooling always becomes a barrier, because it's hard to sell the value of it," he said. "[Klestinec] is very good at kind of breaking it down from a return on investment standpoint."

Through the ups and downs, Intertech has stuck with its core values: trust and managing in an ethical manner; family, or valuing each employee and his or her family; attitude; innovation; collaboration with customers and suppliers; accountability; community; growth; and education and development. Corny as it sounds, another core value is fun — making Intertech a place where people want to go to work each day.

It all began with Noel Ginsburg, a community-minded entrepreneur who, from the beginning, wanted to have a positive impact on the community. In Intertech's submission for the Processor of the Year Award, Ginsburg said he "didn't start the company to get rich. It was built to make a life."

He even ran for Colorado governor in 2018 but dropped out before the primary election. But CareerWise continues on — built from the ground up from experiences at Intertech.