A Washington state injection molder that made a name for itself by making high-end keyboard keys and keyboards is getting a new owner.
Signature Plastics LLC of Custer, Wash., has signed an agreement to be sold to a Portland, Ore.-based investment group led by Will Clark, who is a self-described keyboard enthusiast.
The move will allow owner Bob Guenser to retire, but also give Melissa Petersen, his daughter and minority owner, an opportunity to remain with the company.
For the uninitiated, there is an entire community of enthusiasts out there who have a passion for keyboards. Some make the keyboards themselves with the help of keycap sets made by Signature Plastics and other companies. Signature also makes its own line of custom keyboards.
Tae Ha Kim, also known as Taeha Types, is a keyboard creator who has achieved a level of fame within the community through his online work. He broke the news that Clark is leading a buyout.
"We think we can help out a lot with some of the challenges that Signature Plastics has had over time with scaling up and direct-to-consumer sales and things like that. So we're really excited to bring our skill set from e-commerce in," Clark said in the interview that's posted on the company's website. The new owners also have backgrounds in light manufacturing so that will help in taking over the business.
"Our goal is to keep it here and keep everything the same, the focus on quality, the focus on different products and supporting group buys and supporting [keyboard] creators out there," he said.
"We really like working with creative folks, so that's really enticing as well," Clark said. "We are not in the injection molding business, but we think that that's an important part of this business. But also there's a lot of other important parts that we have a lot of experience in."
Signature Plastics formed in the early 2000s following the purchase of assets in Custer from Comptec International Ltd. Comptec specialized in insert and multishot molding and decorating for consumer electronics.
Signature Plastics says on its company website it is in a 30,000-square-foot building on 16 acres in Whatcom County. The site, about 120 miles north of Seattle, has 28 molding machines ranging from 28 to 260 tons of clamping force.
The company primarily uses polybutylene terephthalate and ABS to make keycaps, but also works with acrylic and polycarbonate. Keyboards listed on the company's website sell for more than $100. Keycap sets that consumers can use to construct their own keyboards range in price and can cost more than $200.
"If we can keep this factory here in the United States, making a really high-quality product for another 20 years, I think that's an amazing accomplishment," Clark said in the interview. "That's really what our goal is."