Custom Profile was established nearly 30 years ago with only one employee and one extruder at the time. It has now developed into an international processing company with three factories serving various markets. And plans for further expansion are being developed.

Since Plastics Technology launched this extrusion processor in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2013, Custom Profile Inc. has changed a lot. At the time, it was replacing four different enterprise software systems, some of which were self-made, using a new system to better manage its growth. Since then, the extrusion business has continued to add technology to its headquarters factory, entered the medical market through acquisitions, expanded its product supply, and opened a third factory in the southeast as part of its strategy of positioning facilities closer to customers Part. The result is a substantial increase in sales, from approximately US$25 million in 2012 to approximately US$45 million now.

Recently, Custom Profile hired extrusion industry veteran Steve Maxson as vice president of sales and marketing. Maxson has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience in extruder manufacturers and processors, and will drive the company's sales, marketing and product development plans and contribute to its acquisition strategy.

Custom Profile has 19 single-screw and twin-screw production lines in its headquarters factory in Grand Rapids, two of which are dedicated to mold verification and product development.

Custom Profile serves a variety of markets, especially office furniture, electrical appliances, renewable energy, construction, irrigation, fitness, and medical care-the last two end markets followed by the acquisition of the profile extrusion business of Bemis Manufacturing Co., Wisconsin in 2016 Appear. Medical products are now manufactured at Custom Profile's Mexico plant.

Custom Profile operates a wide range of commercial resins, including ABS, ABS/PC blends, HIPS, PE, PP, TPE, and flexible and rigid PVC. "We centrally sourced all three factories in Michigan to achieve economies of scale," Maxson said. "We also try to introduce recycled materials where possible, up to 100%." ​​Custom profiles run over 500 different colors, and have a QC laboratory equipped with spectrometers and other technologies to verify accurate color matching.

In Grand Rapids, Custom Profile runs 19 extrusion lines, which are composed of Davis-Standard, American Extruders and Graham Engineering’s American Kuhne brand of various sizes of single-screw machines combined with Milacron’s twin-screws. Production of PVC powder. With 110,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 150 employees, the factory is the largest of the three Custom Profile factories. In Grand Rapids, the company dedicated two production lines with co-extrusion capabilities to product development, prototyping and tool verification.

Custom Profile manufactures its own extrusion tools in Michigan, and its tool room is equipped with wire cutting and CNC machines. This allows the company to fully control the quality and shorten the delivery time. The ability to have in-house build tools is also more cost-effective for the company, because the configuration files it produces are often highly customized and complex. About one-third are multi-hardness and triple extrusion, which put more emphasis on mold quality.

Custom Profile opened a factory in Juarez, Mexico in 2008 in response to moves by the home appliance industry and other companies to move production to the region. The factory has 52,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 185 employees. The plant operates 9 extrusion production lines, two of which are located in a Class 8 clean room for medical tubing built in 2018. "The acquisition of Bemis provides us with a position in the medical field, including burettes for intravenous drug delivery," Maxson said. "That was our entry into the medical field. The customer base came along with the purchase. We set up a clean room for manufacturing in Mexico and added new extrusion capabilities."

Last year, Custom Profile hired extrusion industry veteran Steve Maxson to be responsible for sales/marketing and product development, and to help determine acquisition targets.

More than a year ago, the company cut the ribbon at its third plant in Camden, South Carolina, which has 6 extrusion lines, 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space, and 52 employees. Maxson said that the factory built by Custom Profile is closer to several major customers in the electrical and lawn mower fields.

"We are looking for business developers, a'hunter' who can use our existing capabilities to find new applications and new customers."

The company runs all of its factories around the clock, 5 days a week. Maxson explained: “We run almost the same products at all three sites. Although mold development is concentrated in Michigan, we have basically the same production lines and the same profile production capacity on each production line. This helps us Reduce the risk of production being interrupted in some way in a certain location." 

By being active in many different markets, Custom Profile has also reduced its business risks. Maxson pointed out, “Our two largest markets are office furniture and electrical appliances. Now office furniture is falling because of the pandemic, but the home appliance industry is very strong because housing is booming. We also see growth in niche markets such as renewable energy. Because we produce profiles and pipes for wind turbines. We have also developed complex contours for indoor vertical agricultural towers, which are becoming more and more popular among farmers with small plants. These towers are built from these profiles. The idea is to let Farmers increase crop yields while minimizing horizontal farm space. Plants are stacked vertically in a controlled environment."  

These wire management clips are extruded and cut at high speed to create more typical molded products. The internally developed process allows the customized profile to be applied with tape online after the profile has cooled.

More successful processors like to talk about their value-added services to distinguish themselves from manufacturers who are just parts producers. In profile extrusion, these additional services usually include secondary processing, such as grooving, punching, embossing and so on. The custom profile provides many inline services (rather than as an auxiliary process) to reduce overall costs and shorten delivery time.

Maxson points out, “When we were asked about our value proposition, we first talked about our employees. Many people have been working here for more than 15 years. In addition, we keep our promises; respond faster than our competitors ; Pursue zero defects and 100% on-time delivery; and recruit, develop and retain employees.” The company’s current on-time delivery rate is 99.9%.

Maxson continued, “We also use our technology; we continue to invest in new equipment to enhance our extrusion capabilities. We provide quality services and on-time delivery of customized extrusions. But we are good at online operations-punching, printing , Adding tape, embossing, grooving. We have accumulated the expertise to use them as part of the extrusion process. Combining people and technology, we focus on improving and simplifying our processes. This is what we become experts in online finishing operations Way."

"We also use our technology; we continue to invest in new equipment to enhance our extrusion capabilities."

Maxson pointed out that this expertise not only improves the efficiency of Custom Profile, but also completely opens up new markets. "Sam Nicholas founded this company in 1992. He has developed tools and process technologies for many applications, thereby reducing the overall cost of our customers." For example, a custom profile can squeeze out the clips used to manage the wires in electrical appliances. . Typically, these clips are injection-molded, using an adhesive backing in secondary processing. Maxson explained that Custom Profile extrudes them into continuous profiles, applies tape online after cooling, and then uses a two-blade servo cutter to cut the profiles at extremely high speeds.

Custom Profile entered the medical market through acquisitions and manufactured burettes in clean rooms in Mexico.

Like many people in the extrusion industry, Custom Profile comes from a humble background. When Nicholas opened the door to the 300-square-foot factory in 1992, he was the first and only employee to own an extrusion line. In 2012, Nicholas sold it to Blackford Capital LLC, a private equity firm in Grand Rapids. Since then, it was acquired by Mosaic Capital Partners in Charlotte, North Carolina, an employee-owned private equity firm, and Maxson was introduced as part of a rebranding and growth strategy.

He said: "I was asked to build a team. We did a good job of growth, but many of them were organic and got additional projects from existing customers. Now, we have hired an internal salesperson. We are looking for a business developer, a "hunter" who can use our existing capabilities to find new applications and new customers. You rarely have the opportunity to rebrand the company and develop new sales strategies." 

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