Materials maker F&D Plastics Inc. hopes to get bigger by going smaller.
Leominster, Mass.-based F&D — a compounder and concentrates maker — launched a five-year strategic plan in January, CEO Darren Rosbury said in a recent email to Plastics News. As part of the plan, the firm has been pursuing small- to medium-size orders in custom color concentrates and specialty compounds ranging from 500 to 5,000 pounds.
Rosbury said that F&D "identified this niche market as being largely ignored by competitors." That market size also presented F&D with an opportunity to fill the capacity of its small extrusion lines, he added.
While F&D continues to pursue and produce large customer orders, Rosbury said it's dedicated four small single-screw and twin-screw extrusion lines to small orders of custom colors needed by small injection molders.
More molders had been contacting F&D to see if the firm would produce their custom color orders. Rosbury said these molders often said that they were having a difficult time getting these orders produced because of their low volume.
"As the competition continues to move away from small orders in pursuit of larger ones, F&D saw an opportunity and seized upon it," he said.
F&D was founded by Rosbury's parents, Jean and Roger, in 1967 in Leominster. The firm makes compounds and concentrates based on a variety of commodity and engineering resins, including polypropylene, polycarbonate and ABS, at plants in Leominster and Montreal.