RIM Molder 'Bets the Farm' On Agricultural Vehicles.(Plastic panels)(Brief Article)

Plastics Technology, November, 2001 by Schut, Jan. H.; Sherman, Lilli Manolis

* Back in the mid-1980s, GI Plastek, a custom RIM molder in Newburyport, Mass., was making medical and electronic cabinets, but that market was shrinking rapidly. Plastek then spotted a new opportunity in large, flat panels. "We saw the inefficiency of SMC and RTM for making big parts and post-painting them," says president Chuck Lagasse. Plastek plunged into relatively low-volume truck, bus, and off-road equipment markets but shied away from the higher-volume automotive business, which was shifting from RIM bumper fascias to less expensive thermoplastics like TPO.

Strong creative resources and the right choice of market focus then enabled Plastek to grow at a time when many other RIM molders shrank or disappeared. Large exterior body and hood panels for heavy...

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