General Plastics Named Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year

May 20, 2015 | By Business Wire News

MILWAUKEE

General Plastics, Inc. has been named the Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year for 2014 due to its commitment to quality, employee empowerment and environmental stewardship.

The custom manufacturer of thermoformed products was recognized as the state’s top manufacturer in the “Small” business category, which is comprised of companies with 100 or less employees.

General Plastics has offered custom manufacturing services for more than 20 years. The company manufactures a variety of award-winning plastic products for the OEM and POP markets.

The Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year (MOTY) award program is an annual recognition of excellence in manufacturing. It celebrates the successes of manufacturers in the state: their innovations, philanthropy, technological advances, commitment to customer satisfaction, and quality jobs.

This recognition is a credit to General Plastics’ employees and their commitment to delivering the highest quality in all that they do, according to Robert G. Porsche, President of General Plastics. The Milwaukee-based company – which became ISO9001-2008 certified in 2013 — consistently reinvests 5-7 percent annually in state-of-the-art technology and their employees. In the past three years, the company’s sales have increased 21 percent and its on-time delivery performance has improved to more than 98 percent.

“The Manufacturer of the Year award really belongs to all our employees. This is a total team effort,” he said. “General Plastics is continually focused on the growing and evolving needs of our customers. Our employees have really embraced this approach.”

When Porsche purchased General Plastics in 1987, it had eight full-time employees and operated out of an 11,000-sq.-ft. facility. The custom thermoformer now employs more than 70 full-time workers housed in a 51,000 sq.-ft. building.

Thermoforming is a manufacturing process in which plastic sheet is heated to a pliable forming temperature, formed to a specific part shape in a mold, and trimmed to create a usable product. Examples of thermoformed products manufactured by General Plastics include Rail seat backs, tray tables, medical housings, vehicle panels and roof liners, point of purchase displays and truck bed liners.

With quality as its top priority, General Plastics has made significant investments in technology by continuing to add the newest and most efficient production machinery. The company leverages 3D scanning equipment and analysis software capable of measuring within a ten-thousandth of an inch. It also provides value-added assembly and custom packaging, which allows their products to ship directly to customers’ assembly lines.

In addition to its focus on quality and technology, General Plastics also is dedicated to environmental responsibility. Since 2010, the thermoformer has reduced its landfill waste by 50 percent, and has reclaimed and re-extruded 99 percent of its scrap raw material back into utility products.

ABOUT GENERAL PLASTICS

Formed in 1987, General Plastics is a custom provider of highly engineered thermoplastic formed materials — from polycarbonate to polyethylene – that offers high quality vacuum and pressure forming services to a broad cross-section of customers in the OEM and POP markets. The Milwaukee company’s extensive capabilities include pressure and vacuum forming and CNC and robotic trimming large deep-drawn parts, precise and consistent dimensional trimming, rotary and single station forming and CNC routing. A dedicated and skilled workforce, low reject rate, 24-hour quotation turnaround times, quick responses and relationships based on honesty and integrity support General Plastics’ position as a leader in the industry. The company’s value-added services include prototype development, decal application, adhesive bonding, silk-screening, JIT/kanban delivery, sub-assembly, assembly and fulfillment. Continuous reinvestments in the latest equipment and technology combined with ongoing facility improvements allow General Plastics to achieve the ultimate in productivity and efficiency. As a result, General Plastics lives its slogan, “We Form Concept Into Reality™” through value-based production support that delivers a project from the initial idea to completion.