Otto buys Indiana plant, adding injection molding in Midwest

Otto Environmental Systems North America Inc. is expanding its injection molding capabilities into the Midwest by acquiring a South Bend, Ind., factory from Springboard Manufacturing.

The South Bend plant currently has 30 molding machines with up to 500 tons of clamping force. Otto plans to install larger-tonnage equipment by November.

Otto will invest $5 million to expand the company's capabilities and bring its large-tonnage molding to the Midwest.

The deal is the fourth for Otto in the past 18 months.

"It just so happened that opportunities within our wheelhouse all came available, basically all at the same time," said Shawn Whiteman, executive vice president at Charlotte, N.C.-based Otto.

"We really wanted to take advantage of it because we knew it fit in with our overall growth strategy. We had to bite the bullet and it was a busy 18 months," Whiteman said.

Springboard, on the other hand, has been building its capabilities as a medical molder, also via acquisition.

But the South Bend plant didn't do medical molding, so Springboard hired Florence, Mass.-based Molding Business Services Inc., dba MBS Advisors, to find a buyer.

After selling the South Bend plant, Springboard relocated its headquarters to its medical-focused factory in Rancho Cordova, Calif.

For Otto, which was formerly named AMD Plastics, the deals started in 2019 with the purchase of an extrusion plant in Evansville, Ind., and a thermoforming plant in Saltillo, Mexico.

In November 2021 AMD Plastics purchased Otto Environmental Systems, which included large-tonnage molding plants in Charlotte and Eloy, Ariz. Company officials decided to keep the Otto name and fold the AMD operations under that umbrella.

"We just took the Otto name because it was more recognizable," Whiteman said. "People knew Otto for making trash carts, and we don't want to lose that visibility with that customer base."

Then Otto moved on to acquire a thermoforming plant in Muskegon, Mich., with the South Bend plant as its latest acquisition.

"Our modus operandi is to buy struggling companies, turn them around, and take advantage of the upside there," Whiteman said. "As long as it's in the wheelhouse of what we produce."

Otto, which is headed by Brian Coll, will continue to serve the customer base that Springboard had already established for small tonnage operations, Whiteman said.

Springboard, which legally does business as Kruger Plastic Products LLC, has been expanding its medical operations, with acquisitions including the 2019 purchases of Northern California Injection Molding LLC and El Dorado Molds LLC, both in Rancho Cordova, and Menlo Park, Calif.-based medical molder Stack Plastics in late 2020.