That guy at the party in the movie “The Graduate” had it right all along. “Just one word,” he said. Plastics. That’s where the future is. Just ask the folks at Tacoma’s General Plastics Manufacturing – a company born nearly 68 years ago with an achingly common name and now grown to comprise a team of employees bent on international outreach, aggressive R&D and the identification of solid niche markets. This week, General Plastics Marketing Director Ted Hile is for the first time attending the Salon International de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace – the biennial Paris Air Show. And three weeks ago, company President Floyd Henry accepted the World Trade Center Tacoma’s 2009 Globe Award, given to a company that “contributes to our community’s international status through their trade participation.” Tom Spilman, president of the South Sound region for Key Bank, presented the award at a May 21 banquet. “What has impressed me is that with a unique product set, they are only six or seven years into the international arena, and they’re a Globe Award winner,” Spilman said last week. “For them to have a long-term vision for domestic and international opportunities, and have the confidence to add expense when sales may be down – that’s the forward thinking that separates the great companies from the good companies,” he said. Bill King, business development manager for aerospace programs at the newly renamed state Department of Commerce in Olympia, will be helping General Plastics in Paris. “What I see is a good company that recognizes that there is opportunity now,” he said last Tuesday, the day before leaving for France. “This is just an impression of them,” he said. “They’re on top of everything, there’s always somebody there, they’re enthusiastic, they have a positive work environment. They’re aggressive in the sense that there’s an opportunity they want to take advantage of. They’re well-thought-out. It’s the confluence of the leadership and people on the ground. There are other companies that do this. Why do some companies succeed and some companies fail? Why?” Generally speaking, the company specializes in polyurethane foam, a material with as many properties as there may be applications. It can be made to be flexible or rigid. It can be fabricated in such a way that it absorbs energy or acts as a part of a structure. It can be machined or molded and it can be found inside the winglets of a Boeing airplane wing or perhaps within the enormous protective barrels that shelter the shipment of deadly radioactive material. It can be used by artists and architects as well as astronauts and generals. Its purpose can be to float or to insulate, to bear a load or to retard fire. “We started in 1941,” said Ted Hile, marketing director, a few weeks ago. “We produced coating for fire hoses used in fighting forest fires. That was our first product.” “Our founder had a Ph.D. in forestry, Louis Schatz,” said Floyd Henry, company president. Six days after General Plastics was founded, Pearl Harbor was bombed. The company began with three employees, said Henry. Today, General Plastics employs 150 at its South Tacoma manufacturing plant. The company recently recognized some long-term employees – two with 40 years on the job, five with over 30 and a dozen with at least 20 years. From fire hoses, the business has grown into new arenas: outdoor signage, nuclear transport, aerospace. “Boeing has continued to be a dominant customer,” said Henry. Now, new markets beckon. GENERATING DECISIONS “We encourage supervisors to hold regular meetings, to flesh out ideas,” said Bruce Lind, executive vice president. “We’re looking for new ways to improve.” Decisions, he said, are typically made on the shop floor after consultation with the technical department. “We also listen to our customers,” said Hile. “We do third-party surveys with customers. Did they get what they wanted? Was the order on time? Did it meet expectations? Did it provide good price-to-value?” The responses have led to changes, as in the case of the time it takes to fill an order. “We used to be two weeks, now we’re five days from order-to-ship,” said Kirk Lider, vice president of sales and marketing. “We’re shooting for three days,” said Henry. The executives are collected around the corporate conference table. It’s a place where they sometimes sit and actually argue. “It’s collegial,” said Lider. “Those decisions, that feedback – we meet every Friday for a strategic roundtable. Sales, R&D, operations, quality assurance, executive leadership.” “We’ve developed an honest relationship with one another,” said Eric Hahn, vice president for operational development. “Everything is up for discussion.” The men exchange looks, and a few chuckle. The discussions, said Hahn, “are animated and enthusiastic.” But as it is in a successful marriage, he said, “We don’t go to bed angry.” The chairman of the board, Henry Schatz, is the son of the founder and served previously as General Plastics’ president. “When he moved out of the presidency he said he wasn’t going to make any decisions. He has been true to his word,” said Henry. Hahn discusses a supportive corporate atmosphere informed by openness, honesty and integrity. On the company Web site stand a mission statement, a vision statement, a list of core values and a statement of the company philosophy. Central to each of these is a recognition of the needs of customers. Distilled, the company presents itself as aware of markets, ready to listen, honest in its dealings, respectful of others and dedicated to safety, Unmentioned is the value General Plastics places on the courage to make, admit and benefit from misjudgments. Said Henry, there at the table, “If we don’t learn from our mistakes, then why make them in the first place?” FOUR WALLS AND PEOPLE “Without people, you’ve got four walls and a bunch of machinery,” Henry said. “It’s the people who make your products. It’s the people who you can’t succeed without.” Chris Grant, 21, is a production supervisor who directs 15 employees. “If you want to go somewhere in this company, they’ll help you, and reward you,” he said, surrounded by machinery. The help includes training. With the cooperation of Tacoma Community College, General Plastics offers employees the opportunity to earn certification in manufacturing systems. The course, taught in a classroom at the plant, provides instruction in leadership, management, supervision, finance and project and supply-chain management. “It’s an investment in skills,” said Henry. The help also includes benefits. The company offers its employees 401(k) participation, bonuses and fully paid medical benefits. “It’s aimed at getting people to focus on being the best they can be,” said Hahn. “I’m coming from Sony,” said James Dean, an employee of three years. “This place has family traditions. I like the respect. And it’s really changing the way it goes into the future, staying current.” “We try to find niche markets,” said Henry. One of those markets concerns wind energy, and Hile hopes to fly that particular flag this week in Paris. The blades on those giant wind-catching, energy-collecting propellers currently in use are constructed using a wooden core. General Plastics hopes to revolutionize the industry with a core of polyurethane foam. Wind, tidal, wave, submersibles in oil and gas exploration, offshore turbines in Europe – some markets aren’t yet aware of the applications foam can serve. “We have a very aggressive strategic plan,” said Henry. “We’re talking about multiples of our current sales.” And when a sale is made, a customer is welcomed to the in-house Tacoma laboratory where engineers conduct detailed tests of specifications. This is the room where products are stretched, torn, pulverized and pounded, smashed, smote, smithereened and set afire – although some tests are held at other venues, as when something, say a bomb, is exploded within the confines the company’s Blast-Tamer foam. GOING INTERNATIONAL “We certainly hope that more companies in the Tacoma-Pierce County area follow their lead,” said Anthony Hemstad, newly appointed executive director of the World Trade Center Tacoma. One of the reasons General Plastics won the 2009 Globe Award, he said, was simple courage. “They’ve got chutzpah. They’ve got the guts and the foresight to be looking around for untapped markets. It really can pay off for a pioneer,” he said. “I think that’s going to be more and more important for all companies going forward. They are trailblazers in employee relations as well.” Henry made his first international sale after attending a nuclear material transportation exposition in Berlin in 2004. “It was an attempt to get into that market, penetrate outside the U.S.,” he said. “People had been using wood blocks.” Now, a few use foam. “It’s the attitude of being aggressive right now,” said Lider, vice president of sales and marketing. “We like to do the interesting stuff,” he said. Not the kind of stuff you’d think came from a company with a name so general, so tied to plastics. It’s the kind of stuff the other people haven’t thought of yet, the kind of stuff the engineers get to blow up and hammer down. The kind of stuff that grows a company. “We don’t do any commodity products,” said Henry. “We’d rather do one thing for $1 million than a million things for $1.” Said Chris Grant, back on the floor, “One of things about working here – there’s nothing that’s impossible.” C.R. Roberts: 253-597-8535 c.r.roberts@thenewstribune.com General Plastics Founded: 1941 Employees: 150 Annual sales: $30 million Ownership: Family owned; Board Chairman Henry Schatz is developing a transition to employee ownership. Products: Various industrial fabrications of polyurethane and other foams Customers: Primarily aerospace and energy Recent accolade: Recognizing the company’s global outreach, the World Trade Center Tacoma presented the 2009 Globe Award to the company. http://www.thenewstribune.com/topstory/story/778225.html
The Urethane Blog
Insider views and conversation about the polyurethane market
June 15, 2009
General Plastics Article
General Plastics: 'They've got chutzpa'
general plastics manufacturing: The name might be underwhelming, but this Tacoma company is going places
DEAN J. KOEPFLER/The News Tribune
General Plastics management from left, Bruce Lind, Executive Vice President, Mitchell Johnson, Director of Research and formed in 1946, Todd Maurmann, Director of Quality, Kirk Lider Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Ted Hile Marketing Manager, Floyd Henry President, Eric Hahn Vice President for Organizational Development.
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