A new injection molder and toolmaker is putting the finishing touches on a leased manufacturing facility in Wilmington, N.C., as the company gears up for full production in July.
C2C Plastics Inc. was established in 2018 by CEO Mark Pandozzi and a silent majority investor.
The company plans to offer full injection molding capabilities for medium- to high-volume applications as well as design, engineering and development for products and tooling, such as stack molds, flip top in-mold closing, unscrewing molds and cube molds, among other styles. The company will also specialize in caps and closures, primarily for the health and beauty markets.
Pandozzi said C2C Plastics offers a "full-service kind of situation," noting the company name stands for concept to completion.
"If you come up with a concept, a design, we can take that to fruition and put it into a deal and manufacture your components and deliver your components to your door," he said in a June 18 phone interview with Plastics News.
"We're trying to simplify the process of plastics processing for the end user," he added.
Pandozzi, 52, is a 30-plus-year veteran of the plastics industry. He's also a certified Master Molder and is trained in scientific decoupled molding.
Prior to launching C2C Plastics, he held various management positions at big-name firms such as Amcor plc and Johnson & Johnson Inc. Most recently, he was the global manager of the injection molding division at Essel Propack Ltd., a manufacturer of specialty packaging and laminated plastic tubes based in Mumbai.
"During that time, I had the opportunity to see how to do things right and how to do things wrong," Pandozzi said. "So hopefully the way we're ramping this up and how we're setting our facility up here is based off of all the right things I've seen."
At the roughly 23,000-square-foot Wilmington facility, approximately 18,000 square feet is dedicated to manufacturing. So far, the space houses eight Fanuc Roboshot all-electric injection molding machines with clamping forces ranging from 150-450 tons.
The presses aren't equipped with Fanuc robots, but Pandozzi said the company has the funding to evolve the shop floor and add secondary processes to meet customer needs.
"As they dictate, we will react and meet their needs," he said.
Pandozzi also emphasized that everything — the injection molding machines, 10-ton cranes, air compressor systems and other machinery — is brand new. He estimated the company's current investment in the facility, machinery and auxiliary equipment to fall between $3 million to $4 million.
"What this offers to a customer is confidence that we're not going to see a multitude of breakdowns and issues," he said. "This stuff is top of the line."
C2C Plastics currently has five employees, but as it brings on additional customers, Pandozzi said he could hire four to five additional workers within the next couple months. And by the end of the year, the employee count could total 15, he said.
"I expect a fairly rapid ramp up in staffing to meet customer demand," he added.
Over the next three- to five-year period, the company plans to recoup its initial investment and potentially grow into a larger second facility as it establishes itself for the North American market.
"As we expand and move on, we'll grow from there," Pandozzi said. "This is not a stagnant [business]. This is our baseline, and from here we plan to expand and grow."