Post-pandemic, Teel keeps growing and improving

Baraboo, Wis. — In 2022, Teel Plastics LLC proved that its success during the pandemic wasn't a mirage.

Coming into the year, the Baraboo-based company had nearly doubled in size in just a few years. It had invested in injection molding and extrusion capacity to make a wide variety of products — most notably nasal swabs used to test for COVID-19.

That project had put a spotlight on Teel, which was one of the few companies in the world with the expertise to make swabs in the massive numbers needed at the onset of the pandemic.

But with COVID-related demand easing in 2022, Teel had to prove that it could continue to grow, to retain the skilled staff it had added and trained during the pandemic, and to find new markets that capitalized on its expertise.

Consider that mission accomplished: Teel is now Plastics News' 2022 Processor of the Year.

"I would categorize 2022 as a growth and investment year. It's new equipment and new markets, and it's investing in our people and continuing to invest in the community," CEO Jerry Pritchett said.

In 2022, Teel managed to add and retain staff in a tight labor market in part thanks to boosting wages by 10-15 percent, plus adding a new bonus program based on company performance, plant utilization and each employee's individual goals.

"We need to be viewed as the employer of choice in this region," Pritchett said. He added that even as employment and wages went up, so did profitability.

"The good news is we're doing it with very good financial discipline. And I think that gives us a degree of resiliency," he said.

Teel also made significant improvements in key quality metrics in 2022.

"You ask, 'How can we grow the way we have been and still keep up quality?'" President Tom Thompson said. "I think it's because we've really concentrated on some specific markets. And then we've grown in those markets while also adding adjacent or very similar-type products and customers. That reduces the equipment and development time."

Thompson cited a number of examples — molded components for cosmetics, injection molded products for water treatment and extruded natural gas pipe — that are natural extensions to products like COVID swabs and extruded water pipe and conduit.

"Those products, while they're not exactly the same, they're very similar. So that helps from a training perspective for employees and knowledge of the market for material purchasing," Thompson said.

Pritchett said Teel has been able to win new business through innovation. "We solve customers' problems, especially problems that don't seem to have a solution. That drives customer loyalty," he said.

The Processor of the Year award honors North American companies for all-around excellence. Teel, which was named the 2022 winner on March 1 at the PN Executive Forum in Clearwater Beach, Fla., stood out in all of the award criteria.

The company previously won the PN Excellence Award for Industry and Public Service in 2019 and the PN Excellence Award for Customer Relations in 2021. This year, employee relations, financial performance and technological innovation were also strengths.

"The company looks very different than it did as recently as two years ago," Human Resources Director Diedre Richard said.

"Labor is still a challenge for us, but it's one we're ready to hit head on," Pritchett said. "We're trying to let people know that you're doing more than packaging boxes here; you're working on some of the biggest challenges in the world. And because we're growing and reinvesting in the business, you'll have growth opportunities here."

Production manager Lisa Zelt said she appreciates that Teel is "always striving to do the right thing, and I appreciate being part of that."

"We've got a tagline: We make the products that make people's lives better. That really resonates because what we're doing matters. As a mid-level manager, I'm the face of that for employees," Zelt said.

"One of our medical customers told us once that they motivate their employees by reminding them that at the end of every one of our products is a sick person. And that hit me, and I've been repeating it to everybody," she said.

Christian Herrild, director of growth strategies, said Teel aims to spread that message in the community, too.

"We love having middle school and high school groups come through on tours and get a chance to see the facility. And in October, we had the Chamber of Commerce for a celebration of manufacturing month to give the community a chance to see what goes on behind closed doors," Herrild said.

Adel Charrouf, an operations planning manager, was a recent immigrant from Algeria who had never worked in a factory when he joined Teel. He started in production: "It was just a job to get by," he said. Since then, Charrouf has had six promotions in six years.

"That's what's great about Teel: There are always opportunities for anybody who wants to improve," Charrouf said. "Teel likes to invest in its employees."

Max Cummings, technical development engineer, agreed.

"The people make this company what it is, in my opinion. We have a lot of good leaders who I've learned a lot from over the years," Cummings said.

"I think our operators are also very good. They enjoy learning new technologies," he added. "We're going to continue to grow. It's going to be very exciting."

The Processor of the Year award is sponsored by the Washington-based Plastics Industry Association. As the winner, Teel received the Bregar Trophy, named in honor of Bill Bregar, the PN senior reporter who coordinated the awards for many years.

The other finalists received PN Excellence Awards, recognizing outstanding achievement in specific Processor of the Year criteria:

Medbio LLC, a medical molder and contract manufacturer based in Grand Rapids, Mich., won the PN Excellence Award for Customer Relations.

Redline Plastics LLC, a rotational molder, heavy-gauge thermoformer, composite fabricator and cut-and-sew company in Manitowoc, Wis., won the PN Excellence Award for Employee Relations.

Radius Packaging, a blow molder and injection molder of rigid packaging in New Berlin, Wis., won the PN Excellence Award for Industry and Public Service.

The Processor of the Year competition is open to all companies engaged in North American plastics processing for at least the past five years.