Handoff complete at Glycon Corp. with exec management change

Jeffrey Kuhman, a former pro football player who founded Glycon Corp. in Tecumseh, Mich., is ready to punt some duties.

The 1968 draft pick for the Denver Broncos started in the plastics industry at the same time, working in the off-season for extruder and blow molding machine builder Midland-Ross Corp.

After a couple years in the pros, Kuhman took his A-game to Midland-Ross full time. In 1974, he became manager of manufacturing at the Uniloy division of Johnson Controls.

Then, with nearly a decade of plastics experience, Kuhman started Glycon in 1978. The company manufactures high-performance feedscrews and systems for melt delivery on extruders, injection and blow molding machines.

Kuhman turned it into an innovative business. He was awarded nine patents and attracted customers like Uniloy, Ford Motor Co., a major dairy producer and a popular water sports equipment molder.

Although sales to packaging, recreation, agriculture and construction customers were off 12 percent in 2020, the company was still profitable and is poised for growth, Kuhman said.

"March was our biggest month for incoming business in the history of the company," Kuhman, 75, said in a phone interview. "The medical and food markets are busy. We've been fortunate. We should keep our fingers crossed."

Interestingly, he added, March also was the first month his son, Jonathon L. Kuhman, took over as president and CEO.

After 43 years at the helm, Jeff Kuhman said he wants to move toward the sidelines and let another generation of executives take over.

In another management change, John M. Phelan, formerly general manager and corporate counsel, was promoted to vice president and general counsel.

Jeff Kuhman, who started the business as Great Lakes Feedscrews, remains as chairman.

"It's a nice position to be in," he said. "It gives me more time to participate in marketing-type activities and to focus on the technology we've been developing for almost 30 years. We call it electronic measurement and tracking (EMT). It's predictive maintenance in the greatest sense. We really think, in some form, it will revolutionize the way things are done in extrusion, blow molding and injection on the screws and barrels."

Glycon is among the few screw manufacturers to have a lab with an extrusion line and the latest equipment to test its theories.

"That's an art," Kuhman said. "There's no more than a half-dozen people in North America that are competent in screw design, and one of them is here, and that's Jon."

Jon Kuhman, 48, joined the business a year after graduating from Cornell, where he played football and earned a physics degree. He then worked in the shop and learned about machines and manufacturing. He also worked with the traveling engineers in sales and with people prominent in screw design.

Jon Kuhman takes over a growing staff of 32. Full employment for Glycon is 38-40 people, and several new hires are in training.

"We were at 38 employees, but we discontinued a second shift because we felt it was risky with the pandemic. Now we're building that back so we have some trainees," Kuhman said.

Phelan joined Glycon as regional manager in June 2000. He graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1989 and then the University of Toledo College of Law in 1997.

Phelan was promoted to general manager and corporate counsel in 2009. His new responsibilities include working with Jon Kuhman to plan and manage growth, as well as all personnel and legal functions, such as recruiting, hiring and training new employees and advancing the training of current employees.

"He's multitalented, and it's a blessing to have an attorney on staff. It's not a luxury many companies our size have. He's wonderful with people. He's also our HR guy," Kuhman said. "Through the rough ride with all governors changing directions a lot, he interpreted the changes for the business here and we had no impairment in the operation because he did a great job in following regulations."

Glycon is getting ready to bring its EMT product to market. It incorporates a trademarked SmartPort in the barrel of an injection press, extruder or blow molding machine.

"We are working closely with Xaloy. They will produce barrels that will be equipped with SmartPorts, which will enable us to do the electronic measurement," Kuhman said. "The real key to this is predicting the rate of wear on the machine over a period of time that parts are made or pounds of material is processed."

The rate of wear affects production, efficiency and scrap rates, Kuhman added. The EMT tracks that.

"It's all seat of the pants now, and we will be able to do it very accurately and very scientifically," Kuhman said. "It's pretty much a no-brainer. Just like when your car tells you to change the oil, we'll be able to tell you when to change the screws. That avoids downtime."

The new barrels should be on the market in the fourth quarter. Kuhman expects them to have wide appeal.

"I think the majority of people in the plastics industry run to failure," he said. "They run a machine until they are only getting 70 percent efficiency or pounds per hour out of it and then they think of ordering a new screw or barrel or both. This will eliminate downtime because they will be able to schedule a time that's most efficient and doesn't take the machine out of production."

As for any of his own prospective downtime, Kuhman said he will work in more tennis, swimming and kayaking as he transitions into retirement. Glycon will surely be on his mind when he paddles around the waterways of Tecumseh.

"The interesting thing about my kayaks is that they came off our screws — the DM2, which means distributive mixed melt," Kuhman said. "Lifetime, the largest producer of kayaks, is a longtime customer."

The DM2 has been a successful design, and for Lifetime, the screws are tailored for the amount of regrind processed.

"It's a fascinating operation to watch," Kuhman said. "They drop about a 110-pound parison, close the mold, and when they open it three minutes later, you have a finished boat. It never ceases to amaze me."