Tide Rock unites molding acquisitions under Plastic Molding Technology name

Tide Rock Holdings LLC is combining the four plastics companies it bought last year into one business that will offer injection molding, thermoforming, extrusion and in-house mold making.

Injection molder Plastic Molding Technology Inc. of El Paso, Texas — Tide Rock's most recent plastics-related purchase, from late 2021 — will become Plastic Molding Technology LLC. Also adopting that name will be injection molder and toolmaker Altratek Plastics Inc. of Longmont, Colo.; Pikes Peak Plastics Co. LLC of Colorado Springs, Colo.; and custom heavy-gauge thermoformer Plastics Design & Manufacturing Inc. of Centennial, Colo.

The combined companies will be led by CEO Michael Engler, who said the rebranding serves several purposes.

"We developed the strategy to have a footprint in the plastics industry, and part of that strategy is to unify our team," he said by phone June 8.

For example, all locations will use the same integrated quality management system (IQMS).

"This allows us to manage our businesses as one business. It really does help the team. It streamlines the entire operation … and provides a high degree of synergies across the customer base," he said.

Sharing an approved vendor list also will help smooth out interactions among the four locations: "We move nimbly, and I think some companies lose that" as they grow.

Though all the operations are ultimately part of Encinitas, Calif.-based Tide Rock, Engler stressed that the holding company actually intends to hold onto the companies, which isn't always the case. There's no "quick flip" ahead, he said.

"Upon acquisition of the four businesses, we immediately infused additional capital to expand infrastructure, implement more automation and install new electric molding machines to increase capacity," Engler said in a news release.

Grouping the companies together provides "the mass necessary to build out a fully integrated plastics business sector," he added.

Combined, the companies will exceed $50 million in annual sales, he noted.

Once PMT works out how best to match each operation's capabilities with available capacity, Engler expects more investment and perhaps new acquisitions, "though that's not our primary priority right now." El Paso tentatively could see a boost to square footage and he anticipates adding injection molding to the Centennial thermoforming operation in a few months.

Engler is also CEO of Interconnect Solutions Co., a PMT sister company Tide Rock bought in 2018. ISC is a contract manufacturer and overmolder of custom interconnect components. PMT marketing manager Jennifer Perez said there are enough differences between ISC and the other four companies that ISC will remain separate.