For Georgia injection molder Elevate Solutions Group LLC, it pays to have a strategic plan.
The company added a new customer, Israel-based Plas-Fit Ltd., leading to 50 percent growth within 90 days and a milestone for the two companies that will also see further growth.
Plas-Fit spent more than two years looking for a supplier for its North American markets and to handle the company's volume numbers. A maker of connectors and plugs for the agriculture and infrastructure end markets, Plas-Fit needed a company that could build its products and be 100 percent U.S sourced.
It was considering multiple options of either acquiring an existing injection molding company or building a new manufacturing facility in the U.S. when it found Elevate in October.
In a rapid series of moves, Elevate shipped the first order the end of February.
"It wasn't until they came across our organization that they could find someone to check off all the boxes," said Chris Gardner, vice president of sales and marketing for Elevate. "We were able to handle that volume, handle the growth that it represented, handle the investment that it required, which was buying new presses, adding new people and working through all the terms."
Elevate had a 160,000-square-foot facility that held all its' molding, presses and assembly lines for its customer base. With the addition of Plas-Fit, Elevate leased another 83,000-square-foot facility located 3 miles from the main building. The new lease will be used for additional storage and distribution while freeing up space for expansion of manufacturing operations in the original site.
The company also expanded its quality lab and tool shop. It added 17 injection molding machines and invested $5 million in the company's infrastructure, people and technology."When a company is prepared to act on major growth opportunities, it challenges and calls for advances in every aspect of the business," said Michael Sinclair, president of Elevate. "Fortunately for us, we already had a detailed plan for expansion. Therefore, we just needed to execute — trusting that our team and capabilities were ready to move forward at an accelerated pace."
The timeline moved fast for these two companies. Within about four months, Elevate had to hire employees, expand, test molds and install new presses. The company also had to transfer dozens of molds from Israel and China.
Elevate is now producing half of the items that officials expect.
During Plas-Fit's search, a lot of companies didn't have the resources to keep up with the demand. Elevate saw itself taking this risk without even knowing Plas-Fit well. After the two companies had a first initial meeting, the two aligned on values, professionalism and commitment to quality.
"Growth for any business means extending commitments to deliver as promised," said Gardner. "Part of our mission statement implores us to act with humility and honesty at all times. It's what builds trust in partnerships, and why, I believe, we continue to see opportunities flourish here at Elevate Solutions."
Before the partnership, Elevate had a little over 100 employees and it is currently at 150 employees. It expects to be at 175 employees by springtime. The additional hires will be engineers, press operators and quality lab technicians and more.
Elevate is a vertically integrated company that supports contract manufacturing opportunities. The company does more than just molding, with a focus on design, maintenance, kitting, assembly, packaging and distribution. All these factors aligned with what Plas-Fit was looking for.
Another appealing thing about Elevate that Plas-Fit saw was the company's location being in Atlanta and being a top location for distribution.
The rapid growth took a lot of adjustments from Elevate, the company stayed strategic about the process by using communication and demonstrations to present to the company. Elevate sees success with its leaders' enthusiasm, leading by example within departments and having a sense of urgency mindset.
Since Elevate was already doing a lot of assembly for big companies, it was prepared to take on another. The company also felt fortunate enough to have the financial resources to make this decision.
Having this new partnership will also continue to benefit Elevate financially, as the company is still able to grow and gain more customers but sees themselves being more selective going forward.
"We have very high-quality standards," said Gardner. "The people that work here are very, very good at assembly and all the value added services that a lot of companies just they can't manage."