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Pyramid Plastics Remodels Facility, Upgrades Equipment

The moves are said to align the molder more closely with its sister company, mold manufacturer Industrial Molds Group.

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Pyramid Plastics has invested more than $500,000 in remodeling its Rockford, IL, custom injection molding facility and upgrading equipment. A division of the Industrial Molds Group, Pyramid Plastics is aligning itself more closely with sister company Industrial Molds Inc., a state-of-the-art mold manufacturing facility, to serve companies that require a high level of technical competence in both mold design/build and molding. “Because molding quality parts requires the design and manufacture of high-quality molds, it’s only natural to bring the companies closer together for the benefit of our customers,” states Tim Peterson, vice president of Industrial Molds Group.

The remodeling and upgrading was done under the direction of Pyramid’s new general manager, John Guthrie, who was hired nearly a year ago. Guthrie says he spent 18 years in Florida running a custom molding plant there that “was very similar to Pyramid” in size and capabilities. Prior to coming to Pyramid, he was employed at the proprietary molding operation of a local Rockford OEM.

Industrial Molds spent more than a year and invested nearly $2 million upgrading the company’s mold manufacturing facility, located not far from Pyramid Plastics. Pyramid’s long-term planning calls for purchasing three new presses per year for the next five years.

Pyramid has added three new, all-electric Toshiba injection molding machines, a 55-ton, 140-ton and 200-ton. A fourth all-electric Toshiba injection molding machine is scheduled for installation in the fourth quarter, to give Pyramid a total of 27 presses ranging from 20 to 1,000 tons. “We have several new jobs we’re starting that we’re targeting for the new 200-ton press,” noted Guthrie, adding that the number of presses remains about the same “because we’ve gotten rid of many of our older presses in our equipment upgrade, to gain better efficiencies both in productivity and energy.”

Along with the new presses, Pyramid purchased auxiliary equipment that includes a new “intelligent” material drying system, and a pressurized high-temperature water system. Guthrie explained that Pyramid runs a lot of high-temperature engineering resins for many of the heavy-duty industrial components it molds for customers. “Instead of hot oil, we decided to use pressurized water, which has better thermal properties, is safer and cleaner,” he said.  

In addition to the production floor remodel and equipment upgrades, Pyramid completely remodeled the Quality department, putting in new, energy saving light fixtures for better lighting; new furniture, new flooring and parts storage system. A new MicroVue Excel 664 Multi-Sensor vision system capable of 900x magnification was also added to replace an older CMM. “This new MicroVue system provides us with greater accuracy, faster measurements and ease of use,” said Don Moline, Pyramid Quality Manager.

The facility has been repainted and the company is in process of remodeling the front areas of the production floor with with all new LED lighting fixtures, and air conditioning in the front manufacturing room will be installed this winter. “We’re making a big push to increase and improve our technical abilities, but additionally we’re making Pyramid a better environment in every way possible,” Guthrie said.

Industrial Molds Group has a goal of aligning Pyramid Plastics more closely to its sister company, Industrials Molds, which manufactures precision injection molds for a variety of markets, and offer customers turnkey services that include:

  • Molds built using the latest technology, including robotic manufacturing cells.
  • Mold qualification and process validation
  • Molding services, including both pre-production runs and high-volume production runs – whatever level of service customers require
  • Mold changes and repairs
  • Complete quality documentation for both  mold manufacture and molding

Pyramid is also investing in training its skilled labor through outside seminars and certification classes offered through suppliers, industry consultants and other training programs.

“We’re excited about our future as part of the Industrial Molds Group,” said Guthrie. “With our growth, facility and equipment upgrades we believe we can meet or exceed all customer requirements for high-quality plastics manufacturing.”