Redline Plastics: Bold moves, big growth, a culture of success

Manitowoc, Wis. — It was a decision that Redline Plastics LLC was concerned it might regret.

Two years before COVID-19 first reared up and led many manufacturers to worry about survival while the world was shutting down, Redline was formed, opening a rotational molding plant in Manitowoc, a small, Lake Michigan city 40 miles south of Green Bay. The company had just transformed from being a cut-and-sew manufacturer making pontoon boat seats and leisure upholstery to a full-scale producer of heavy plastic parts as large as 16 feet in diameter.

Then came COVID in 2020, followed by a huge decision for Redline. Would COVID mean a slowdown of growth for the nascent company, a sheltering-in-place until the danger passed?

The company, just named Plastics News' 2024 Processor of the Year in a ceremony on March 12, instead went in a novel direction. A bold statement was made by Redline CEO Chuck Webster and President Nick Murray. The company would double down — expanding from 125,000 square feet to its current 227,000 square feet in Manitowoc — and add a large investment in machinery and people.

"Oftentimes, in America especially, you don't see expansion happening unless there's something to go on a machine," Murray said during a facility tour on Jan. 15. "If we have gone by that mantra, we would not have been able to eat up market share like we did during COVID."

Redline's choice — as well as its inspiring approach to employee culture and definition of success — has led to the company becoming a significant player in the rotomolding industry. In 2024, Redline was named among the top 25 fastest-growing companies in Northeast Wisconsin by Insight Publications. It opened a second facility in Hartwell, Ga., and has expanded its customer base by 20 percent over the past 12 months.

Some of that growth has come from strategic decisions that brought an element of risk but have paid off. When the company, owned by the Webster family, closed its cut-and-sew operation near Minneapolis and expanded into Manitowoc, it didn't have a single employee knowledgeable about rotomolding, Webster said. But it saw opportunity.

"Large parts are not products subject to import," Webster said. "You are shipping air and hollow containers, and the cost of transportation can be excessive. It was great default for our customers to have a local source."

That opportunity was expanded further by the company's emphasis on employee engagement under one common cause. Redline calls it "Ninja Culture," a devotion to following a set of cultural behaviors that invoke personal responsibility and exemplify how employees should act toward others and themselves.

Murray, who moved to Manitowoc in 2017, said he attended a seminar that discussed defining behaviors that speak to everyone.

"Back in 2018, when we sold the marine division, we were left with a fresh canvas and an undefined company," he said. So, a message and vision were created that resonated with employees.

A series of 14 cultural behaviors are posted on a lobby wall, ranging from "you have one mouth but two ears" to "recognizing awesome." A motto on a conference room wall states that your beliefs become your actions. One of the company's most practiced behaviors is that of engaging in "radical candor," or being honest with your supervisors and not be afraid to speak.

"We recognize that in every family, there is a level of dysfunction," said Director of Operations Jon Van Ess. "But when we fall short, we talk freely. It is an atmosphere very much about what we can do and how we can help, with no finger-pointing or blame."

That dedication includes a healthy use of surveys, both of employees and customers, and quarterly drawings where winners of three different cultural behaviors are recognized with a $500 prize. It is part of the company's overall "How We Redline" culture program. "Our ninjas are engaged," said Human Resources Manager Nikki Paider.

Community engagement is prominent at Redline, a 2023 winner of Plastics News' Industry and Public Service Award. Manitowoc County, dotted by a mix of industrial business parks and green areas that include biking paths and beaches, was hit hard by the loss of many large manufacturers that moved out of the area in the late 2010s. Smaller companies have replaced that void and hired back some of those workers, and Redline wants to be part of that renewed growth and optimism.

The company has established a "fun committee" that meets monthly to recommend how the company can best help the greater community. A current drive focuses on contributions to the county's Humane Society and works with a local recovery center for addiction, a Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter and the local Salvation Army. "We're just reiterating what it means to be a decent human," Paider said. Or, as Murray put it, if the community is strong, then so is Redline.

While the company has built a sustainable employee culture, its work with customers has been equally important to its growth. The company is proud of its on-time delivery rate of more than 99 percent, maintaining that even as Redline launched 199 new products last year. A key ingredient is making both employees and customers sign off on a documentation checklist each step of the way and staying in constant communication. There are a lot of initials on each part that must be signed before it goes out the door.

The company developed in-house 3D prototyping to avoid costly defects and miscommunication during a project. "We make big, costly parts, and you don't want to be 92 percent complete and then realize you have to start over," said Director of Engineering John Shackleton.

Cost consciousness also goes a long way at Redline. While the industry standard for plant scrap among rotomolders generally hovers around 5 percent, Redline is under 2 percent annually, Murray said. In-process inspections and state-of-the-art quality testing are parts of the reason, as is a methodical approach that includes a digital manual always on-hand for each operator.

A dedication to cost even extends to the goal of creating an energy-efficient plant. Redline has invested in LED lighting throughout the facility, not only brightening the work floor but providing enough energy savings to power 43 homes for a year, Murray said. Another innovative initiative takes the compressed heat from the arms of its machines during production and uses that to warm the facility in the winter months, when it can get frigid outside. Much of its linear low density polyethylene scrap is re-extruded and either reused in products or sold to other businesses when it can't be repurposed, Van Ess said.

The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Association named Redline as one of nine businesses to receive its 2024 Business Friends of the Environment award.

The company also has succeeded by moving out of its comfort zone in rotomolding. In Georgia, it now compression molds many parts. Redline has also embraced vacuum forming, line bending and fiberglass-reinforced molding, and it has even brought back upholstery cut-and-sew work. All are needed to keep production in one place and cut out shipping costs, Murray said.

This includes an array of products where different processes are employed. For a motorcycle, Redline can rotomold the bottom and tub for a saddle bag, vacuum form a lid, and cut and sew leather upholstery. Industrial tanks sit side by side with playground equipment and buoyancy devices for marine equipment.

The results have shown up in the numbers. Sales have grown to a projected $43 million in 2024, escalating each year and a huge upward rise from $8.4 million in 2018, when Redline was launched. Profit has been equally strong, escalating by close to 60 percent annually as new cost controls and plant efficiency opportunities have kicked in.

While capital expenditures were lower in 2024, the company has the ability to grow quickly as it looks for opportunities to add plants and processes. The guideline that Redline follows is to make certain it has enough capital to expand at the right time, Murray said. "This is definitely not a very fast growth but highly levered business that can grow too quickly and become a time bomb," he said. "We want to make certain that we have the capital available to grow at all times."

Still, investment is being made in AI and in automation, two areas that are challenging for a rotational molder but areas that all companies are considering, Murray said. It is about what the company can add next to its customer base.

Ultimately, the company's success is founded on principles of personal responsibility, expanding processes and markets, and being a wise investor in the future. But it was preceded by the risks it took to pivot to rotomolding in 2018 and then to make its aggressive moves in 2020 to become a larger and more full-service contract manufacturer.

Redline surprised itself by how fast it grew when COVID was at its worst. Annual sales rocketed from $15.6 million in 2019 to $32.7 million in 2022, more than doubling as the company expanded its market position and its brand. The company took advantage of a low-interest-rate environment in those years to add equipment and gird itself for new projects once the short-term mire brought on by the pandemic eased and the need for new products returned to a sense of normalcy.

The process has not been easy for a company that had to find a new blueprint in 2018. As cultural behaviors become more ingrained at Redline, management knew that it took a certain individual to buy into the Golden Rule edicts, such as treating others as you would yourself and being an expert listener, Shackleton said. "You can't pull this out of nowhere and say do these things," he said. "You have to have the right people to promote them."

Transformation for a company that for many years had specialized in sewing seat covers for boats and producing leisure upholstery was certainly an uphill climb. But the change has come from rapid adaption and from the values instilled in Redline's people.

"If you have a team that takes pride in what you do," said Quality Manager Andy Wimmer. "Then you do the right thing even if no one is looking."