Finalists named for 2020 Processor of the Year

Comar LLC, Diversified Plastics Inc., MMI Engineered Solutions Inc. and Plastek Industries Inc. have been selected as finalists for the Plastics News 2020 Processor of the Year award.

Three of the companies — DPI, MMI and Plastek — are repeat finalists. Erie, Pa.-based Plastek was a finalist for the 2017 and 2018 award, while Brooklyn Park, Minn.-based DPI and Saline, Mich.-based MMI were finalists for the trophy in 2019. Comar, which is based in Voorhees, N.J., is a first-time finalist.

All four companies are injection molders but have other plastics operations as well. Comar also does blow molding, DPI has a large rapid prototyping business, and both MMI and Plastek have big tooling operations.

Processor of the Year candidates are judged on seven criteria: financial performance, quality, customer relations, employee relations, environmental performance, industry/public service and technological innovation. Judges are members of the Plastics News editorial staff.

"These finalists have impressive stories to tell, especially considering their performance in the pandemic year," Plastics News Editor Don Loepp said. "They all stayed open and kept their employees safe, and pitched in to make essential products needed in the fight against COVID-19, including diagnostic consumables, face shields and ventilator components."

The 2019 winner was Intertech Plastics Inc., a custom and medical injection molder in Denver.

Here's a description of each finalist, in alphabetical order:

Comar was clearly the fastest-growing Processor of the Year finalist in 2020 and probably one of the most rapidly expanding plastics companies in the world.

Comar was founded in 1949, and it is principally owned by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. The company has more than 1,000 employees and more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and distribution space, plus another 400,000 square feet that it acquired in 2020.

In January 2020, the company grew its medical device molding business via acquisition through the purchase of iMark Molding Inc., a 70-employee company in Woodville, Wis. The iMark business is ISO13485-certified and has ISO Class 7 and Class 8 clean rooms. Its 130,000-square-foot facility has more than 30 injection presses. Customers include makers of medical diagnostic and surgical devices.

In February, Comar announced it is building a 230,000-square-foot custom facility in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. That plant will house injection and injection stretch blow molding and injection molding cells, and it will replace existing Comar plants in Rancho Cucamonga and Garden Grove, Calif.

In June, the company announced that it is building a 159,000-square-foot injection molding and assembly plant in Vineland, N.J. That expansion is scheduled to be completed by March 2021 and will include increased space for injection molding, assembly and finishing operations, warehouse and storage space, more dedicated product cells and an improved quality lab.

Finally, in November, the company announced that it is moving into a 160,000-square-foot facility in West Bend, Wis. The leased facility will triple Comar's local footprint and will eventually house more than $7 million of capital investment in high-tonnage injection molding machines, large cavitation molds and press side automation. The plant will help meet skyrocketing demand for rigid containers for disinfecting wipes used to battle COVID-19.

The Plastics News judges were also impressed with Comar's financial, customer and quality performance. Comar is led by CEO Michael Ruggieri.

Helping customers bring new products to market at light speed is one of the things that sets Diversified Plastics Inc. apart from its competition.

In early 2019, DPI launched a new unit for additive manufacturing, dubbed the Acceleration Station. 3D printing is becoming a rapidly growing sector for the custom molder, both in helping to prototype new injection molded components and also to make production parts.

Founded in 1977, DPI specializes in high-precision, close-tolerance parts and components for medical device, aerospace and a variety of other industrial markets. The company provides full-service contract manufacturing services.

In 2020, DPI had excess capacity due to the postponement of elective surgeries and lower demand for other products. So it proactively sought ways to ease the shortage of life-saving equipment including face shields, building tooling in record time and at one point producing more than 30,000 halos daily.

DPI also produced ventilator parts and splitters. A splitter allows one ventilator to support two patients.

The 2019 PN Excellence Award winner for employee relations, DPI is owned by its workers through an employee stock ownership plan. DPI also has a sister company in Vista, Calif., Pacific Plastics Injection Molding. DPI and PPIM have more than 100 employees, and after a recent 5,000-square-foot addition to the PPIM facility, the Minnesota and California facilities total 78,000 square feet.

DPI is led by CEO Kevin Hogan, who joined the company in 2017. Company founder James Dow is still involved as well.

MMI is a rapidly growing automotive supplier that had to quickly pivot in 2020 when some of its largest customers temporarily shut down because of COVID-19.

The company does injection molding and blow molding of automotive parts in plants in Saline, Mich., a new factory in Warren, Mich., and a recently expanded operation in Monterrey, Mexico. MMI also designs and makes molds in-house.

MMI's leadership team chose to maintain the highest level of employment possible and use the time to make significant improvements in its operations. That included acquiring new presses and equipment for planned new program launches in both the Warren and Monterrey facilities.

In addition to providing essential productions and components to key customers as an essential supplier, MMI also provided components essential to the fight against COVID-19. This included ventilator components on a project with Ford Motor Co. and adjustable face shields for several customers.

When business was slow, MMI made improvements to its processes, procedures and facilities, and worked to stay engaged with customers. The strategy paid off, and the company closed on a significant amount of new business as the year came to a close.

MMI also impressed the judges this year in the industry/public service category. The company works with numerous colleges and trade schools to encourage development of future leaders in plastics manufacturing.

MMI is led by owner, President and CEO Doug Callahan, who previously held a leadership role at 2004 Processor of the Year winner Miniature Precision Components Inc.

Erie, Pa.-based Plastek is back as a finalist for the third time this year. In addition to being a Processor of the Year candidate, the company won the PN Excellence Award for customer service in 2017 and for industry/public service in 2018.

This year Plastek is back and impressing the judges in even more categories, including environmental performance. The rigid packaging molder is a major backer of a $100 million plastics waste sorting plant that Plastek sees as a way to secure a supply of the recycled plastics its consumer product customers are demanding.

Another strong suit is employee relations. Plastek's standard employee benefit package includes health insurance with low paycheck deductions and low out-of-pocket expenses, free dental and vision insurance, and a 401(k) with matching contributions.

Training and education are part of the company culture, including support for Penn State Erie and Richmond Community College in Hamlet, N.C.

Plastek was started in 1956 by Joseph Prischak, who was recently named to the 2020 class of the Plastics Hall of Fame, and is run by his sons.

The majority of the company's business is molding personal care packaging, but it also has substantial food/beverage, medical, home care/industrial and tooling businesses. With estimated molding sales of $335 million, the company ranked No. 27 in Plastics News' most recent survey of North American injection molders. That total does not include the company's operations in Brazil, England and Mexico.

Plastek is the only family-owned finalist this year. The company is led by CEO Dennis Prischak.

Previous winners

2019 — Intertech Plastics Inc.

2018 — MTD Micro Molding

2017 — Petoskey Plastics Inc.

2016 — Dymotek Corp.

2015 — Evco Plastics

2014 — Stihl Inc.

2013 — Tech Molded Plastics Inc.

2012 — Hoffer Plastics Corp.

2011 — Steinwall Inc.

2010 — Plastikos Inc.

2009 — GW Plastics Inc.

2008 — Plastic Components Inc.

2007 — Innovative Injection Technologies Inc.

2006 — Mack Molding Co.

2005 — U.S. Farathane Corp.

2004 — Miniature Precision Components Inc.

2003 — Unimark Plastics.

2002 — (tie) Tech Group Inc. and Precise Technology Inc.

2001 — Cascade Engineering Inc.

2000 — Tessy Plastics Corp.

1999 — Royal Group Technologies Ltd.

1998 — Courtesy Corp.

1997 — Nypro Inc.

1996 — Bryan Custom Plastics.

The winning Processor of the Year will be announced at the Plastics News Executive Forum, scheduled for March 16-18. The event will be held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The winners of the three PN Excellence awards will also be named at the event. Those awards honor processors that excel in one of three Processor of the Year criteria: customer relations, employee relations and industry/public service.

Award finalists can be a company or an operating division — public or private — that has been engaged in plastics processing in North America for at least five years. Previous winners are not eligible.

The 2020 Processor of the Year will be the 26th company to earn the trophy. Plastics News has named a winner each year since 1996, and there was a tie for the top honor in 2002.