With a work history in the plastics molding industry, Raymond Currier combined
technology, experience, dedicated personnel and relationships based on trust to open
Currier Plastics in 1982. Service and quality were the hallmarks upon which the company
was built, with the goal of increasing satisfaction for both customers and employees.
These lofty goals have been achieved through significant investments in automation, a
training program that aims to educate and retain employees for high-need jobs and a shift
in the fundamental way the company viewed its capabilities. Currier Plastics is not
afraid to reinvent itself, as long as the company’s customers and employees receive the
benefit.
Changing the Focus – A Packaging Company
Currier Plastics, located in Auburn, NY, produces a variety of products for the
electronics, medical, hotel amenities, disposable wipes, telecommunications and other
consumer products industries. Using injection molding, extrusion blow molding and
injection stretch molding (both single step and two step), the company runs high-volume
production on 24 injection molding machines ranging from 20-500 ton, 11 extrusion blow
molding machines and four injection stretch molding machines.
From 1982 to 1996, Currier was strictly an injection molder. In 1996, a decision was made
to enter into extrusion blow molding to complement the injection molding business, but
after many years of taking on a variety of work in blow molding at high utilization and
minimal profit, Currier made the decision to reevaluate its position. The evaluation
showed that much of the blow molding work was accepted simply to keep the machines
running at capacity, rather than tailored to the company’s strengths.
“After some serious searching, we realized that we were really good at making injection
molded components that worked with blow molded parts,” explained Molding Manager Steve
Valentino. “We were continually complimented on bottles with caps or canisters with lids
– and those were packages that we could provide at a competitive price.” With this
realization, Currier Plastics evaluated its equipment capabilities and customer base to
determine what fit the company’s core competencies of design, injection molding and blow
molding. The switch to a focus on packaging proved a winner, and Currier Plastics reduced
its sales while increasing profitability.
Currier specializes in developing complete packages, including a disposable wipe cup
canister that fits in an automobile cup holder. Currier designed the canister and lid,
which the company then produces and shrink wraps before sending it to the customer for
filling. Currier’s largest venture is in hotel amenities, supplying the three largest
hotel amenities suppliers with a variety of extrusion blow, injection stretch bottles
coupled with injection molded caps. As part of its packaging focus, Currier has developed
sealing designs for sealing and lift-open. One design seals in five different areas from
the cap to the bottle, with a focus on high-speed fill and capping to keep the product
from spilling.
“We very quickly went from being a small company that could provide complete, functional
packages to the ‘go to’ expert,” explained Valentino. “When customers no longer had to
worry about packaging not performing to their expectations, we gained attention that we
did not expect and took on some of the Goliaths in the industry.”
With a significant market share of an industry that supplies travelers with necessities
that are oftentimes thrown away, Currier has kept its eye on the trends in
sustainability. “We are experiencing a variety of shifts in the industry, and one of
those shifts is a push for sustainability in the areas of post-consumer regrind (PCR)
usage, biodegradability, weight reduction, packaging reduction and overall carbon
footprint.” Its hotel amenity customers have appreciated Currier’s experience in using
post-consumer regrind (PCR) and the edge it gives them in a competitive travel market.
“We are building our experience in biodegradable additives, and we are skilled at running
100-percent PCR,” said Valentino. “Our customers were looking for that next competitive
edge, and we’re giving them the option to provide a product that can be recycled or will
degrade in a landfill.”
No molder can yet claim mastery of biodegradable resins due to the speed with which
development is progressing, but Currier has formed relationships with resin companies
that give Currier the opportunity to be the proving grounds for new bio-resin products.
And while Currier has molded with a variety of bio-resins, including corn-based PLAs and
a resin made from pineapple fibers, Valentino pointed out that resins are only one end of
the sustainability spectrum. “We have presented options to our larger customers that have
resulted in a $200,000 savings in corrugated and a $50,000 reduction in trucking costs.
By light-weighting our products, reducing our packaging and putting more product on each
truck, we are focusing on our carbon footprint and how we affect the environment.”
Automation the Key to Packaging Efficiency
Currier Plastics’ packaging focus has been aided with the implementation of automation,
from product design to final inspection. Currier has invested in laser digitizers,
allowing the company to reverse engineer and improve on current product designs. An SLA
modeler is the next planned investment, with the goal of putting a model in the
customer’s hand soon after a need has been described.
On the injection molding side, Currier has added robots to aid in the machine closing of
caps and the outside-the-mold closing automation. “We used to run small cavitation, and
we would close the small cavitation by hand, which resulted in an increase in carpal
tunnel so we built our own closing stations, which satisfied the demand for 4 or 6
cavities,” said Valentino. However, demand escalated, with orders for cavitation reaching
48 and 64 cavities per mold. Currier responded by purchasing robots and end-of-arm
tooling, and then the company tried to get ‘fancy’ by implementing in-mold closing. “That
was really painful,” laughed Valentino. “There is action in the mold that closes the cap,
which is very cool. Unfortunately, there was so much action in the mold that we saw an
increase in maintenance issues and a decrease in cycle times.” Now Currier is
experimenting with out-of-the-mold closing using vibratory bowls and experiencing a
closing rate of 400 per minute. “By adding automation and not having to go into the mold
with a robot,” he explained, “we’ve seen an increase in our ability to support
customers.”
On the blow molding side, Currier has practically eliminated mold and drop technology;
instead, Currier has implemented in-machine deflashing and injection stretch blow molding
(ISBM) processes to reduce manual labor. “The newer blow molding machines hold the part
captive after the molding process and then deflash the part automatically. The part is
then taken to a conveyor, which indexes the part to a box. The automation allows our
operators the time to supervise multiple pieces of equipment, with roughly 40-60 minutes
of process time before an operator has to address that machine.” Currier went from one
person per machine to one person supervising the operations of every four machines.
On-floor quality assurance is key to the success of any significant automation
implementation. At Currier, quality assurance personnel are educated and trained to look
real-time at quality, with a 10-percent sampling of every product that comes off the
floor. Automated technology plays a part in quality inspection as well, with torque
testers, tensile testers and an all-automatic measuring machine that does visuals and
touch probe testing for a 64-cavity mold in under five minutes.
Valentino enumerated the benefits of the automation: “We have increased our output
without adding labor, reduced our accident rate and decreased repetitive motion concerns.
Quality also has improved because our employees have more time to do the task right the
first time.”
Currier is currently restructuring internally to find space for two new machines that
were delivered at the end of 2011. “We’ve been creative throughout the years in squeezing
machines into little spots,” Valentino said, “but we’re finalizing plans for an expansion
of 55,000-sq.-ft. in 2012. The additional space will allow us to grow at a 15-percent
growth pattern over the next five to 10 years.”
Training the Pink Striped Unicorns
The implementation of automated technology has not reduced Currier’s need to educate its
employees, but rather created a need for a higher level of training. As a result, Currier
has a variety of programs available, beginning with a technical training program that
supports all three disciplines: extrusion blow molding, injection molding and injection
stretch blow molding. “The program is designed to take all interested employees into the
Tier 1 phase, which teaches the basics of processes, material characteristics, and
molding and manufacturing knowledge,” stated Valentino. Candidates that display further
interest and score well on the tests are offered opportunities at Tier 2, which could
lead them into positions as technicians. Tier 3 is a ‘masters’ program that develops
technicians on an engineering level.
This intense internal training program, developed by Currier personnel, has given Currier
Plastics an advantage in a competitive job market. “As we were searching for blow molding
technicians, we labeled them pink striped unicorns – it was that difficult to find an
experienced technician,” Valentino explained. “We would hire qualified employees from out
of state and then they would leave. At the same time, the internal talent wasn’t exposed
to the kind of training that was needed to develop them to the next level.”
Currier has seen employee retention rates increase in skilled positions, in addition to
other benefits. “We have a much more knowledgeable and technical workforce, with better
uptime and reduced downtime,” Valentino explained. “And I receive fewer phone calls at
home!” The program has been so successful that, although initially developed strictly for
blow molding, it has morphed to include injection molding and injection stretch molding
as well.
Value Times Velocity
Currier Plastics has responded to the fluctuations in the economy by increasing its
effectiveness with automation and training, resulting in a more flexible workforce that
can respond quickly to the change in orders. However, its philosophy shift may have been
most important to its customers.
In 2007, John Currier, the current CEO and president of Currier Plastics, coined a
concept: V². Value times Velocity was based on the idea of truly reaching out to
customers and understanding how to support them in a manner that would make them more
competitive in their marketplaces. Understanding what Value meant to each customer,
coupled with production Velocity, has created an environment that has been win/win for
customers and Currier Plastics.
Currier is dedicated to becoming the answer to its customers’ problems. By shifting its
production philosophy to a focus on packaging, rather than labeling itself as a molder
only, Currier Plastics truly has added value to its customer relationships. “We
understand what causes customers’ line inefficiencies, product failures and overall
frustrations,” said Valentino. “From a lack of customer service to just not being
considered important by large suppliers or molders, we’ve invested our time into solving
those problems with people and equipment that take away the ‘pain’ that can come from
using multiple suppliers.”
John Currier’s philosophy has led to a shift in the company’s focus, but he understands
the true reason for its success. “Our competitive edge isn’t in what we don’t tell the
world. It’s in what our employees do every day.” |