Tessy Plastics: Reinventing excellence for 52 years

Skaneateles, N.Y. — Tessy Plastics Corp. may be 52 years old, but it's still able to move like an Olympic sprinter.

The Skaneateles-based injection molder and contract manufacturer has built a legacy of continuous reinvention, earning the 2024 Plastics News Sustained Excellence Award, an honor reserved for past Processor of the Year winners.

Since being named Processor of the Year in 2000, Tessy has evolved from a diverse molder serving Xerox and Ericsson to a leader in medical, pharmaceutical, and health care manufacturing. But the real proof of its capabilities came early in the COVID pandemic, with a project that until recently was cloaked in secrecy.

Sustained Excellence winners are judged on three criteria: financial excellence, one key person who has remained at the company and plays a key role, and one extraordinary new development since winning Processor of the Year.

Tessy's extraordinary development came in 2020, and it was prompted by the critical shortage of COVID-19 test kits early in the pandemic. "We got a lot of new work because of the pandemic from one of our customers who was doing COVID test kits" CEO Roland Beck said in an interview at the company's headquarters.

"In the middle of April [2020], Abbott [Laboratories] … came to us with a challenge. We were very fortunate because we had the ability, we had great suppliers, [and] one of the big things we had was a 438,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that they were using as a warehouse, which was ideal for this project.

"We quoted it within 48 hours, and the following day, we got the go-ahead," Beck said.

Tessy worked closely with Abbott Laboratories to quickly ramp up production. The companies hired the largest cargo plane in the world to ship 39 new Sumitomo injection presses — six machines at a time — from Japan to the United States, where they were installed with new tooling and auxiliary equipment in Webster, N.Y.

Everything related to the project had to be under one roof, and the goal was to start production in just 15 weeks. That even included lyophilization equipment, which was used to dehydrate chemicals used in the test kits. That's not a typical secondary service, even for a medical molder.

"A project like this, taking a warehouse and turning it into a high-tech manufacturing facility, typically takes 12-18 months. And we've done it in about three," said Abbott's Andy Wilkinson.

"It was a tremendous amount of work for us — a huge undertaking," Beck said. "And to be honest, it was good and bad. It was such a huge undertaking for us that took a lot of people's extra efforts, so it was tough."

Judson Vann III, Tessy's vice president of sales and marketing, said the company never missed a shipment to any customer through the whole pandemic.

"And we also couldn't tell any of our customers about the [COVID test kit] project that we were doing because it was so hush-hush with the customer and with the government. So we were walking a very thin line to say [to customers], 'You know, you're going to get your parts.' But on the other side, we were working to stand up this entire new medical facility."

Tessy was founded by Roland's father, Henry Beck, in 1973 after he moved to upstate New York as a sales and service representative for a Swiss mold machinery importer. Henry Beck, who died on March 9 this year, was born in Munich in 1934 and became an apprentice toolmaker at age 16.

Back in 2000, when the company was named Processor of the Year, Tessy had sales of roughly $100 million and about 1,000 employees. Today, its global operations employ more than 1,600 and generate sales of about $600 million.

The company's growth came from a focus on highly technical injection molding, including liquid silicone rubber, high-cavitation molding and micromolding.

Its vertical integration includes in-house tooling and automation, thanks to its 2019 acquisition of NuTec Tooling Systems Inc. in Meadville, Pa., and Custom Tool & Design Inc. in Erie, Pa.

The company also has unique secondary capabilities, including sophisticated scanning that allows it to guarantee 100 percent inspection of assembled parts.

"We're focused on taking on difficult challenges for large customers," Vann said. "[Roland's] very focused on having the right customers and projects here as well as the employees. … We don't want just a product that's off the shelf that anyone else can do."

Key employees who have remained with the company in the 25 years since winning Processor of the Year include Roland Beck — one of Henry's three sons — and President Stafford Frearson, who's been with Tessy since 1997.

Roland Beck said Tessy works hard to take good care of its employees. He visits all the plants every two months — and that includes plants in New York, Pennsylvania and Shanghai.

"So six times a year, I see every single employee that we have, and I try to get a lot of feedback from them," Beck said.

Vann said part of the culture at Tessy is that managers are empowered to make decisions.

"Roland is not a micromanager. He asks every employee to treat his money as if it's our own, which we do.

"So if you go to Roland and say, 'I want to do X, Y and Z, I want to spend this, and here's the return,' he'll sit back and say, 'What would you do if it was your company?' He's not going to give you a yes or no. He's not going to say, 'That's the craziest idea in the world.' He lets us make decisions. It gives you a sense of ownership of the company, and we all treat it like it's our own," Vann said.

Frearson started his plastics career working in his father's tool shop in England, making tea for toolmakers and sweeping floors. His father got a job with Tessy in the early 1990s, which led to the family's immigration to the U.S. in 1996.

Stafford joined Tessy in 1997, initially cleaning molds. He soon transitioned to engineering, where he spent 15 years working on medical devices, eventually being named vice president of engineering, and then president in 2023.

In that time, Tessy has expanded from two to six plants. Frearson said the company has always emphasized organic growth and maintained a strong workforce.

"Roland aimed to build a self-sustaining company that wouldn't be sold, focusing on long-term growth," Frearson said.

There's a big emphasis on succession planning — all of the plants have junior plant managers who support the current plant managers, ensuring a smooth transition.

"I think he's recognized that it was very difficult for him to oversee the operational day-to-days of each of those plants. So he took the responsibility to put younger, driven individuals in those plants, working directly with the current plant manager. And over the last two or three years, he's really let them take some responsibility for running the plants," Frearson said.

Beck is optimistic about the future of the company. "We've been privately held since we opened in 1973, and we intend to stay privately held," he said.

"We live in a nice area. We have a nice pool of talented people to draw from in this area. You know, it's funny because as I'm getting older, a lot of the people I worked with in the beginning, 41 years ago, are retiring or have retired.

"But I'm really glad that we have a lot of really nice, young talent with a lot of the same vision that I have. That makes me really confident that the future of Tessy Plastics will be great."