HC invests in machines to help gardens grow

In a sure sign of warm weather, this month's Best Practices takes you to the HC Cos., which manufactures planters, growing pots and hanging baskets.

HC has invested in new Netstal and KraussMaffei injection molding machines as the company replaces some of its aging fleet of machines at its plant in Middlefield, Ohio.

HC specializes in multicavity, thin-wall and stack-molded horticultural containers. The company serves the greenhouse, nursery and consumer markets with brands such as Dillen, Pro Cal and Akro-Mils Lawn & Garden.

Those brands had been part of Akron, Ohio-based Myers Industries Inc. In 2015, Myers sold the lawn and garden segment to Dallas private equity firm Wingate Partners V LP, and it was renamed HC Cos. HC is based in Twinsburg, Ohio.

Jason Brooker, HC's vice president of manufacturing, said company officials initially were looking at Netstal injection presses for molding high-speed, thin-wall parts. HC bought two Netstal Elios presses in 650 and 750 metric tons of clamping force.

Netstal and KraussMaffei share the same parent company, KraussMaffei Group. For the rest of HC's needs, the Netstal regional manager directed them to look into KM presses.

Seeing them run helped seal the deal, to buy 13 KraussMaffei GX machines, ranging in clamping force from 400-750 metric tons.

"They invited us to their open house at their Florence [Ky.] facility, where we saw Krauss' 500-tonne GX Series machine running a four-cavity, one-gallon pail mold in a 10-second cycle. It was impressive," said Jeff Walker, HC's production manager.

All the KM presses that HC purchased have the APC plus option (Adaptive Process Control), which enables the correct switchover from injection to pack-and-hold in the injection cycle. APC plus compensates for variable batch consistency by monitoring the viscosity of the material and adjusting the fill volume evenly in each shot.

"We run recycled material that can have variable viscosities and the APC plus automatically adjusts to fit each batch," Brooker said. "No more manual inputs or tedious guessing."

Walker said, "The APC plus is like having a processor standing at every machine."

HC bought the presses in 2017. Brooker said the two brands of machines have helped HC exceed efficiency targets.

So when you head to the nursery to buy your plants and flowers, think of the high-tech injection molding required to manufacture them.