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PIQUA |
Visit Commerce Drive Industrial Park in Piqua, Ohio, and you'll find yourself in the midst of a heavy population of plastics companies. Plastics workers craft everything from Olympic banners to high chairs and from auto parts to prototypes.
| Astride I-75, in the heart of Ohio's auto industry, Piqua has proven popular for any industry that makes vehicle parts and components. And for today's autos, that increasingly means plastics. But with a diverse base of small- to medium-sized plastics producers, Piqua industry also serves appliance, power tool, furniture and many other markets.
It was Evenflo, one of the area's largest industries, that brought Proto Mold to Piqua. The company injection molds such items as car seats and high chairs for Evenflo, whose plant is just across the street. The company also has a blow-molding operation that produces horse feeders and chemical containers, among many items. Piqua has a number of start-ups making plastics for the auto industry. Among them is Harmony Systems, which began operations two years ago. The company employs 43 in production of a polyester fiberglass sump pump, among other items. Harmony's growth relates to its alliance with another Piqua firm, Master Industries, a mold-maker and custom-injection molder. President James Brogden says the companies niche is in small jobs that larger firms often don't have time to do. The company can turn a customer's idea, which is often vague, into a finished product. |
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"Piqua has been good to Master Industries by doing some things that are very simple and straightforward but which make industry feel welcome," says Brogden. "The city helped us get our infrastructure in place and showed us a business-friendly environment."
Brogden also likes Piqua's quality of life. "You don't normally find events like the 'Taste of the Arts' festival in a community this size," he says.
Crayex, another Piqua plastics company, touts the location for tapping a wide labor market and the stable workforce noted for low turnover. The company makes 40 million pounds a year of blown film from polyethylene. The film becomes shrink wrap for pallets and new machinery, silage bags and bale covers for the region's substantial agricultural industry, food packaging and banners. The film is delivered just-in-time to such customers as Kroger Dairy and John Deere.
A large power user, Crayex likes the reduced electricity rates it gets from Piqua Municipal Power System, a city-owned utility that buys at wholesale rates and passes the savings along to customers. Crayex typically sees savings of 25-33 percent over "normal" rates charged by other utilities.
| JM Mold, which designs prototypes and provides tooling for the die-casting industry, prides itself on agility -- its ability to stay flexible in a fast-changing environment. It stays fleet-footed by removing unnecessary production steps and by forming partnerships with complementary companies. |
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"We used to get 24 weeks to build a tool," says company president Robert Kinsella. "Now, with condensed product life cycles, our customers ask for production in 12 weeks and the job can often involve hundreds of design changes. Our customers often tell us price is secondary to speed."
One way to speed mold design is to link remote computers, allowing all parties to view the design and makes changes immediately.
A point of pride was a recent job for Whirlpool. JM Mold helped the appliance maker put a new dryer model on the market in the fastest time ever.
Shops like JM Mold are a distinct locational advantage in the region. Because of the heavy influence of the automotive industry in the region, some 400 tool and die shops have popped up in the Greater Dayton area, placing the region on par with the expertise available in the much larger cities of Chicago and Detroit. Over time, these companies have extended their expertise from metal forming to plastics.
| Perry County | OHiO ENGINEERED MATERIALS |
Springfield and Clark County |
