PPE project a lifeline for Reed City Group

Pandemic-driven layoffs were cutting deep through Reed City Group LLC until President and CEO John Barnett got a phone call that turned a time of great uncertainty into an opportunity so big that the company went on a buying spree for injection molding machines.

Barnett had been dealing with job cuts, risk management scenarios and safety protocols to protect the remaining employees at the Reed City, Mich., plant from COVID-19.

Layoffs were happening in phases at the 61-year-old injection molder that also offers tooling and custom machine building. The first round hit the production crew of the company, which generated about 65 percent of its $24 million in 2019 sales from the automotive market.

"We had ongoing projects with a couple of our medical customers, so we were in a position to continue with the production of those tools as an essential employer," Barnett told Plastics News. "Fortunately, our team was also awarded a few hot tooling projects for these customers related to the pandemic, but we had no idea how long this type of business would allow us to continue to stay open."

Then, Barnett got a call from an engineer who works with one of Reed City Group's customers. The engineer was affiliated with an OEM, and he told Barnett about a chance to be part of the General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. supply chain initiative to manufacture personal protective equipment.

Barnett knew about the efforts to create an Arsenal of Health to beat back the deadly respiratory disease similar to how the Arsenal of Democracy cranked out military tanks, planes and weapons during World War II.

"President [Donald] Trump was working with GM and Ford to leverage the automotive supplier management team in conjunction with their private sector manufacturing partners to quickly build respirators and ventilators and get them to the market," Barnett said. "This initiative was front and center in the national news. We saw an amazing opportunity to help, so we threw our hat in the ring."

The OEM, who Barnett can't name because of a nondisclosure agreement, knew of the company's tooling expertise but not all its capabilities. Reed City Group was not a direct part supplier of this OEM, making any business award more challenging for the sourcing committees. But through the vetting process, Barnett said his team showed they had the right people in the right places and they could provide a high-quality product to market at the speed required.

"Through the week I was having conversations with people from one level of the organization to the next," Barnett said. "After gaining the understanding of our full capabilities from high-quality tool manufacturing to full production and automation under one roof, then having some dialogue with our key team members that were going to be the ones responsible to bring this home, I think they gained a high level of confidence in us. We were very hopeful and honestly prayerful that we would get the project."

A week later, hopes were fulfilled and prayers answered. Barnett said his next phone call with the OEM was about being awarded the majority of the plastic pieces to be injection molded for a major PPE customer.

Along with the good news, came some warnings and a question about all the visibility surrounding the projects to manufacture ventilators to help patients breathe and powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs) to keep front-line health care workers safe from the virus.

Barnett said he was asked, "Are you guys sure you can handle this? There is a lot of visibility. We have daily reporting to the White House on this project. That's a lot of pressure. Can you and your team handle it? And we said, 'Absolutely we can handle it. Bring it on.'"

Company officials notified employees both on and off the payroll about the new work and placed orders for what turned out to be eight Absolute Haitian injection presses.

"We were only about one and a half weeks into the initial layoffs when we were able to start bringing people back. It was just fantastic," Barnett said.

The company's tooling experts got to work in earnest in Reed City while seven of the presses were being prepped for shipment from Absolute Haitian's operations center in Moncks Corner, S.C.

"They have been a really good partner for us," Barnett said of the machine maker. "They had the right machines available and were able to provide the right financial package. We had some of the first machines delivered in just over a week. It was a pretty crazy time with all that was going on in our facility."

Absolute Haitian delivered seven of the machines in less than two weeks and the eighth machine, which was ordered later, in about six weeks.

Reed City Group now has a 27-machine fleet, including six ZE electric machines ranging from 44-214 U.S. tons and two MA II S servo-hydraulic machines at 225 U.S. tons from Absolute Haitian.

All along the company's toolmakers were busy making nine tools to mold 12 parts.

"We had a highly coordinated tool manufacturing process in place before the award was given to ensure its success — from the design of the molds, ensuring the supply chain was ready and able to provide the required steel and components, all the way through the machining and finishing of the molds. There were even a couple local tool shops that helped us in areas of capacity constraints," Barnett said.

Everyone finished ahead of the tight schedule, according to Brad Doornbos, business development director for Reed City Group.

"The OEM challenged us with a four-week tool build," he said. "We were on calls every day with the customer. When we told them we'd be sampling two tools and it was just three and a half weeks in, they used words like 'amazing' and 'holy cow' and they said this doesn't happen. You're early. I left that phone call just walking on clouds."

At the same time, other teams of employees were retiring some machines and installing automation and quality assurance equipment on others. The maintenance crew cleared a path for the new machines and got the production space in order for their installations, which also happened quickly.

Reed City Group was producing parts for PPE in four weeks.

Barnett said the company is making the lion's share of the plastic parts for a PPE device being produced by the tens of thousands for immediate use and the national stockpile.

To handle the workload, the company hired and trained new employees. It has increased the workforce by about 40 percent to 137 people compared with the start of the year, Barnett said.

Although some existing employees were hesitant to return to work because of underlying health conditions, most did with a sense of relief and enthusiasm, he added.

"They saw the national news about getting the private sector involved in increasing the capacity of ventilators and respirators," Barnett said. "And they knew this project was coming right down from President Trump to our team in small town Reed City to execute. This created such an enormous sense of pride, patriotism and purpose."

The foundational pieces that put Reed City Group in position to gain a contract like this have been gradually put in place over the past three years. The owners at Argosy Private Equity and Stone River Capital have invested in equipment, infrastructure and personnel since May 2017. Last year, for the injection molding segment, they added centralized material handling equipment and a crane to free up floor space and align the presses for more efficient manufacturing.

"We have been working diligently on continuously improving our company. It starts with equipping and training our amazing people and providing a culture in which they can excel. It's these foundational pieces of having the right people in place, with the right equipment at their disposal, that allow us to strike if something like this comes along," Barnett said.

The OEM, which has had representatives in house at Reed City Group, was so pleased with the company's performance and quality of their people in all three business units, there is talk about several other opportunities, Barnett said.

"This will really help us in terms of product diversification goals. It will certainly lead to other PPE opportunities, and it could lead into the medical and dental markets as well," he added.

Compared with March, when significant layoffs loomed at Reed City Group, the mood is upbeat for jobs to make lifesaving PPE that was a lifeline of sorts for a big employer in a small town.

"We feel blessed. That word resonates the most," Barnett said. "It's not luck. We've worked with a clear purpose over the years and yet we understand that we're very fortunate to be in this position."