With its full sales staff participating, Plastics Machinery Group is up and running at K 2022.
PMG buys and sells new, secondhand and refurbished plastics processing equipment. The company focuses on buying and selling thermoforming equipment, injection molding equipment, blow molding equipment, grinders and shredders, extrusion and plastics auxiliary products.
PMG is working toward a global presence. Its headquarters is in Bedford Heights, Ohio, but it also has an office in England and two salespeople in the Middle East.
The original business plan of PMG is to offer new and refurbished equipment, but it also aims to make a pivot to more remanufacturing and repairing used equipment.
"Some of the biggest things that we're doing right now is we're totally remanufacturing blow molders and grinders," said Donald Kruschke, president and CEO.
In December 2016, PMG bought Loveman Steel and Fabrication in Bedford Heights to move machinery into and give the company more space. By buying Loveman Steel, PMG was able to upgrade to a 78,000-square-foot building, in addition to its other building and warehouse, which is just under 20,000 square feet.
But now, with this pivot in the business focus, PMG will be selling off the intellectual property of Loveman Steel but will keep the plant as well as the staff to launch the remanufacturing business.
"They know their material," Kruschke said. "They've already done a number of grinders for us."
Kruschke used to send machines off to other companies to be remanufactured, experimented last winter with the goal of being able to get into that business themselves.
"What's really interesting is I couldn't sit there and put a finger on it," Kruschke said. "But I knew that [Loveman Steel] could come in use for something."
The next step for the company is to expand the physical capacity to be closer to 200,000 square feet altogether. As of right now, the new building is only in design mode and there is not yet a budget for the project, he said.
Currently, PMG is in line to have 2022 be a second record year in sales. Officials don't see any signs of business decreasing soon, but it is something for which they are watching out.
"It's extremely hard to navigate future purchases just because of inflation and interest rates," Kruschke said.
