Metro Mold adds capacity, focuses on big customers

Rogers, Minn. — Metro Mold & Design Inc. has been seeing rapid growth thanks to investments in new capacity and partnerships with its largest customers.

Ben Lampron also credits the company's culture, which has enabled it to recruit talented workers.

"One thing we do really well is empower people. So if you find someone who really wants to dive into making business change, putting their print on the business, we allow them to do that," Lampron said. He joined Metro Mold as vice president of consumer and industrial in 2018.

"One thing that attracted me to Metro Mold is when Greg [Heinemann, CEO] said, 'Ben, you come to Metro Mold and you can run the business the way you see fit.' Now an owner saying that to a new VP. I almost didn't believe it, but it's really been the truth. That's very appealing to a lot of people."

In the past two years, Metro Mold has doubled annual sales in its consumer and industrial business, but it's maintained its small-company atmosphere, Lampron said.

"We invest in our people's careers. And we have a lot of fun extracurricular activities," Lampron said. "It's like an old-school, family-owned company, with Christmas parties, hams, turkeys. It's really great. And I come to work excited every day, which is how my team feels too."

Metro Mold has two plants near Minneapolis. The Rogers plant does thermoplastic and thermoset injection molding and blow molding for consumer and industrial customers. A second plant, in Brooklyn Park, Minn., does medical injection molding and also houses the company's tooling operations.

Metro Mold traces its roots to a tooling business started by John and Carol Holland in their basement in 1972. They moved into the family garage five years later, then into a pole barn in 1979, according to a 2011 feature about the company.

Sons Tim and Tom Holland started a custom molding business in 2001 that Metro Mold bought in 2005. They made another big move in 2006, buying a nearby custom molder, Imperial Custom Molding Inc. Then Metro Mold built the $5.2 million, 100,000-square-foot Brooklyn Park medical molding plant in 2012.

Heinemann joined the firm as chief financial officer in 2009 and took over as CEO in April 2015.

Each plant has about 100 employees and combined annual sales of between $80 million and $100 million.

In the past two years, Metro Mold has spent about $10 million on new injection presses, automation and infrastructure. In the consumer and industrial side, that includes six new Engel injection presses, three Arburgs and three Toshiba machines, Lampron said.

The Rogers plant now has 30 injection presses for thermoplastics, nine for thermosets and six blow molding machines.

He said the consumer and industrial side of the business started to grow three years ago when it shifted to focusing on approximately 10 customers with high-volume, long-run jobs.

"We have an extreme focus on overserving our top customers; I think that's really where the differentiator is," Lampron said. "It's almost too simple to be true. But I think we do the basic things really, really well and connect with customers in a way that they're not used to. It's valuable. And we're laser beam focused on it."

He cited an example where Metro Mold worked with a customer on two changes that were able to save about 13 percent on the material cost of a part.

To compete with low-cost molders in China, Metro Mold emphasizes service.

"When they call and they need support, or they need some engineering coverage, or their presses are down and they need help, we're there. It's hard to get that from somebody overseas. So that local flavor is really a big deal."

Four years ago, about 80 percent of its business was with customers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Now it has a more national and international mix. Key end markets, besides medical, include consumer goods, construction-related parts and bottles.

Heinemann is a strong advocate for revitalizing American manufacturing. That includes partnering with local high schools.

"Our CEO really believes in investing in that aspect, making sure that the kids coming up at least know about manufacturing," Lampron said.

In the past two years, Metro Mold has added six new Engel injection presses.