Myers-Trilogy on a path of steady growth

Tight-tolerance parts with high-quality aesthetics do not generally come to mind when describing rotational molding, but Myers-Trilogy Plastics considers that the baseline for the products it manufactures.

Myers-Trilogy’s main markets are outdoor, industrial and consumer products but it also makes parts for the heavy truck, vehicle maintenance and medical markets. Annual sales are estimated at $35 million.

“We try to keep it as diverse as possible,” said Bryon Osborne, director of sales at Myers-Trilogy. Myers-Trilogy has about 80 active customers.

Myers-Trilogy is a custom rotational molder and product diversity has helped it record steady, continuous growth. Osborne said sales were about $17 million five years ago. Adherence to lean manufacturing principles, investing in top processing equipment and operating two modern plants have also played a part.

Trilogy Plastics, headquartered in Alliance, Ohio, was acquired by publicly traded Myers Industries of Akron, Ohio, in August. Terms were not disclosed. Myers-Trilogy is now one of three rotational molding companies owned by Myers.

What attracted Myers to Trilogy? “The people,” said Myers Industries President and CEO Mike McGaugh. “They believe in the same values we do: Integrity, customer focus, a sense of optimism and a can-do spirit.”

Trilogy traces its lineage back to 1896 to a company called Old King Cole Inc. in Canton, Ohio, which made papier mâché and plaster items for store window displays and large promotional figures such as Mickey Mouse and the RCA Victor Nipper dogs. The company was an early pioneer in rotational molding, which it started doing in the late 1950s. The business had declined under a series of owners until it was acquired by Stephen Osborn and Bruce Frank and renamed Trilogy Plastics in 1987. Frank retired three years ago and after 34 years at the helm, Osborn moved to a consulting role when Myers Industries acquired Trilogy.

The company thrived under Osborn and Frank’s leadership, growing from 13 employees and three rotational molding machines. It has been profitable every year and has averaged compounded annual sales growth of more than 13 percent.

Company executives took a critical look at their business in 2014 and decided that the best way to grow the business was to become a world-class processor, according to Daren Balderson, Myers-Trilogy GM. He was the operations manager in 2014.

“That became our mantra: The Trilogy way ... world class,” said Balderson. The first step was to launch a Six S program — Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain plus Safety. Six S is a basic lean-manufacturing methodology.

“We looked around and said ‘We’ve got to clean this up,’ ” Balderson said. “We had to get rid of the waste and focus on our organization. If we really wanted to play with the big players and become world-class, then we had to walk the walk.”

Myers-Trilogy also brought in Osborne to handle sales, a new engineering manager and a new quality manager.

Balderson, who has been at Myers-Trilogy since 1993, said the company is on a never-ending journey to improve.

“Unemployment, labor shortages, the price of material and everything else going up makes it seem like everything is against manufacturing right now,” Balderson said. “But I think companies that have a strong culture are the ones that fare better, and our culture is strong.

“We’ve invested in people, technology and equipment and we just keep driving forward,” Balderson said. “We just want to be the best rotomolder in North America, if not the world. Ultimately, that’s the goal.”

Myers-Trilogy operates two plants about one-quarter mile apart in Alliance, which is located in a rural area some 22 miles east of Canton. The main plant has seven rotational molding machines and the second plant has five machines.

Another rotational molding machine is expected to be operational by the end of November in the second plant.

All 13 machines are five-station, independent-arm carousel models manufactured by Ferry Industries Inc. in nearby Stow, Ohio. Independent-arm machines permit the production of different parts on each of the arms and the parts can be moved in and out of the curing ovens independently.

Eleven of the rotational molding machines can accommodate 2,200 pounds on each of the four arms and two can accommodate 3,300 pounds per arm.

Osborne said Myers-Trilogy standardized on Ferry machines because the machine manufacturer is located about 30 miles away. “We are really close to spare parts and we can commonize all our spare parts. We have spare arms and just about everything that can go into any of the machines.”

All of the rotational molding machines are equipped with Ferry’s InfraRed Thermometry System Control (IRT) and RotoCure System Manager control system.

Mold surface temperature data provided by the IRT system is critical because a four-arm machine can hold up to 32 different molds at one time with different temperatures and curing times. IRT sensors monitor temperatures so the molding cycle can be automatically adjusted.

Temperatures and status of the powder melt inside the molds are monitored with Ferry’s Rotolog and Paladin EZ Logger systems.

The company also has six five-axis CNC machining centers that give it a high degree of automation. One is a Quintax machining center manufactured by Ferry, three are DMS units and two others are Motion Master. Five are located in the main plant.

Osborne said the CNC routers are important because they speed finishing operations, improve quality and offer a big safety advantage. Before the routers were implemented, much of the finishing work had to be performed with band saws.

“Even if the CNC machines do not provide a cost savings, they are safer. They have paid off for us,” he said.

Resin purchased directly from manufacturers comes into the plant in railcars and is stored in eight silos. Myers-Trilogy uses one grade of LDPE and two grades of HDPE. It arrives as a natural color and Myers-Trilogy adds color.

Myers-Trilogy has two Powder King pulverizers to turn the pellets into the powder necessary for rotational molding. After it is pulverized, it is blended, then stored in super sacks until needed.

Rotational molders typically buy compounded resin that has already been pulverized, but Osborne said there is a cost savings in doing this in-house.

The company typically uses about 12 million pounds of resin per year, according to Osborne. Scrap is ground and reused.

Myers-Trilogy makes parts ranging from a medical component the size of a softball to buoys that are 8 feet high and 5 feet in diameter weighing up to 150 pounds before another 150 pounds of PU foam is added. Cycle times for thick parts can be up to 90 minutes.

Most of the cast aluminum tools Myers-Trilogy uses are built in northeast Ohio by Rotocast Technologies Inc. in Akron and North Star Aluminum Molds Inc. in Middlefield, Ohio.

Myers-Trilogy adds PU foam to about 10 percent of the parts it makes, including things like buoys, coolers and in-ground tank covers. Stationary, high-pressure foaming equipment is from Hennecke-OMS.

The company uses a proprietary molding ERP system. Preventive maintenance is controlled through FaciliWorks software from CyberMetrics Corp. of Phoenix, Ariz.

Osborne said most of Myers-Trilogy’s customers order fewer than 30,000 parts a year. “Rotomolders operate in the [range of] 1,000 up to 30,000 parts. Once you need more than 30,000, the part price becomes lower with blow molding,” he said. Myers-Trilogy’s minimum order is 1,000 parts per year.

Myers-Trilogy also can include molded-in graphics, metal inserts, reinforcing ribs, kiss-off ribbing and undercuts.

The company currently has about 285 employees plus 30 job openings. Employees can earn an extra $100 per month for perfect attendance and get $1,000 every year on their job anniversary.

“We have 18 people who have been here more than 20 years, and that is a long time in a rotational molding plant because the work is physically demanding. It is hard work,” Osborne said. “A third of the people we had in the plant 20 years ago are still here.”

The two plants currently run 24 hours, five days a week with occasional shifts in Saturdays.

Myers Industries chief McGaugh said he believes there is good opportunity for growth at Myers-Trilogy. An example, he said, might be the ability to manufacture parts in one of Myers’ West Coast plants instead of shipping them from Ohio to the West Coast.

There are also possible cost savings by Myers purchasing resin in larger quantities than Myers-Trilogy can do on its own.

McGaugh said he expects to see Myers-Trilogy continue to add automation to its manufacturing operation. “They have done a good job but there are still opportunities, and we are going to automate where we can,” he said.

 Ron Shinn, editor 

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