Compact Mould gets into auxiliary business

Woodbridge, Ont.-based moldmaker Compact Mould Ltd. has purchased the assets of Brampton, Ont.-based Heins PCM Machinery Limited, allowing Compact to offer a full portfolio of services to its customers.

“As a result of the current economic situation in North America, Compact Mould Ltd. has taken the initiative of strategically aligning resources and now offer some more complete services to the blow molding industry,” said Compact president Miguel Petrucci in a recent email to his customers.

In an interview at the company’s headquarters, Petrucci explained that Compact would now sell a full range of auxiliary and downstream equipment, such as extrusion heads, spin trimmers, leak testers and deflash units. The company will also sell and service a line of SIDE PET reheat stretch blow molding machines.

“The economic problems that we have now, for us moldmakers, we started seeing that two and a half years ago,” explained Petrucci. “We didn’t see that turning around, so we had to find ways to see how we could serve our customers better, and what else we could offer.”

The downstream offerings have been consolidated into an auxiliary department at the company. Gaston Petrucci, who was the owner and president of Heins PCM Machinery and is Miguel’s son, is now the executive vice president in charge of auxiliary equipment at Compact Mould.

According to Miguel Petrucci, being a full service supplier will allow the company to branch out into other markets, particularly in the United States. “Our strength is here in southern Ontario, but more and more we have to expand into parts of the U. S.,” he said. “They have a completely different view, they do want a complete service.”

In addition to entering the auxiliary business, the company has consolidated its product design business into Compact Mould.

“Product design and fast prototyping was a separate business for seven years, and when the market was expanding we thought it was best to offer that as a standalone service,” Petrucci noted. “Now everybody needs things streamlined, so we felt it would be a lot more efficient to bring it in-house.”

Petrucci adds that the company used to do product drawings in a week or two weeks. With in-house services, the company now has a two-day lead-time for drawings, and another day if the customer wants a prototype.

The company has also recently invested in a wide range of equipment at its operations, including a quick prototyping machine.