Bay Plastics Machinery marks 25 years, memorializes late founder

When Conair Group decided to move its Jetro subsidiary from Bay City, Mich., to its headquarters in Franklin, Pa., in 1997, Tony Forgash Jr. and three other company officials resigned and started a new pelletizing services business called Bay Plastics Machinery Corp.

"It's not a revolt," Forgash told Plastics News for a June 1997 story, adding that the departing engineers and salesman simply didn't want to relocate and had a critical mass of experience "to do the things we know best."

Twenty-five years later, Bay Plastics Machinery is celebrating its silver anniversary as a manufacturer of strand pelletizers and related equipment while memorializing its founder, who died June 30, 2021, at the age of 80 at the Cleveland Clinic.

Forgash was an old-school draftsman and innovator with patents to name that helped turn a small-town business on Saginaw Bay near Michigan's so-called thumb into a global enterprise.

Forgash was also known for his kindness, generosity and integrity, according to his son, Jim Forgash, who is vice president of sales for Bay Plastics Machinery.

"Dad decided that instead of uprooting his family and moving to Pennsylvania, he would leave and start his own company and work to keep most, if not all, of the Bay City-area employees. He took the less selfish approach and kept the Bay City operation going," Jim Forgash said in a news release.

The company marked its 25th anniversary and Forgash's contributions to the industry and community with a company picnic on June 15.

But the business's roots run much deeper, back to 1946, when Anthony Forgash Sr. started a tool and die shop called Jetro Inc. Much of Jetro's early business came from Midland, Mich.-based Dow Chemical. But that changed in 1961, when Forgash Sr. developed a new design for a strand pelletizer for Dow that gained popularity throughout the plastics industry.

Jetro's pelletizing technology impressed John Reib of Conair Group, which acquired the company in 1974. Tony Forgash Jr., who had been with Jetro since 1963, was named president of Conair Jetro, and he worked there until Jetro moved and he and his partners opened the new business.

Bay Plastics Machinery evolved from servicing machines and manufacturing spare parts to building its own machines based on Tony Forgash's designs. The company also entered into an agreement with C.F. Scheer to sell and service Scheer machines in the U.S. In 2008, when the Great Recession hit, C.F. Scheer fell on financially hard times, and Bay Plastics Machinery managed to buy out the shares and stay afloat.

Bay Plastics Machinery laid off employees and cut salaries and overtime to get through the period before business bounced back and it could call back everyone and then some.

After the recession, Tony Forgash stepped back from the CEO post and gradually turned the business over to his sons, Jason, Jeff and Jim. The company evolved again, from servicing North America exclusively to signing agreements with international companies that made the company a global player in the plastics industry.

"Dad taught us that while there would be challenges to working internationally, it was the right thing for us to do," Jim Forgash said. "He knew that we are in a niche business that has ebbs and flows, and it was important for us to pursue opportunities globally."

Locally, Tony Forgash kept busy coaching and supporting youth sports, especially wrestling.

"He traveled extensively in the 1970s and '80s, but he always found time to call from the road and check in with us," Jeff Forgash said. "When he was home, he enjoyed spending time with the family and especially loved camping, hunting, fishing, golf and more. He was a pillar of the community."