Plastics News Names 3 Processor of the Year Award Finalists

AKRON, Ohio--Feb. 6, 2006--Plastics News has named three finalists for its 10th annual Processor of the Year Award. The Akron-based weekly newspaper will honor the finalists and announce the winner at a March 7 reception at its March 5-8 Executive Forum 2006 at the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Fla. Presidents of each finalist company will participate on a best-practices breakfast panel the following morning. The finalists are:

-- Fibergrate Composite Structures Inc. of Dallas, Texas - The 40-year-old Fibergrate is the first finalist in the award's history to specialize in using the pultrusion process. A subsidiary of Medina, Ohio-based RPM International Inc., Fibergrate has held strong in the face of increasing grating imports from China. At its plant in Stephenville, Texas, the 270-employee company produces grating, platforms, ladders, handrails and no-slip stair coverings commonly seen at corrosive work areas. It also makes structures designed to hide cellular phone towers. In 2005, Fibergrate said sales jumped 22 percent from 2004, to $50 million.

-- Innovative Injection Technologies Inc. of West Des Moines, Iowa - Now known as i2 Tech, this $26 million custom molder began life in 1960 as Mid-Central Plastics Inc. Morton Industrial Group Inc. acquired the firm in 1998 and three years later Morton executive Robert Janeczko became the Iowa plant's general manager. Following a management buyout, Janeczko and his son Josh now own the firm. Since 2004 they have invested $3.75 million in equipment and infrastructure, and moved to lessen i2Tech's dependence on agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co. The 145-employee company now also serves the building products, industrial and office furniture markets.

-- U.S. Farathane Corp. of Sterling Heights, Mich. - Created in 1971, when two firms, U.S. Plastics and Farathane Corp., merged, USF today operates four injection molding and two extrusion plants - all in Michigan. It plans to open a plant in Tennessee later this year. The 575-employee firm runs 100 injection presses and remains profitable in the cutthroat automotive market. Its sales have doubled since the mid-1990s, and 2006 sales should top $100 million. The firm has embraced newer technologies such as two-shot and microcellular molding, and earns high marks for quality, solid customer relations and public service.

Plastics News presented its first Processor of the Year Award in 1996. The award - judged by PN editorial staffers - honors a company or operating division in North America that has displayed excellence in financial performance, quality, customer relations, employee relations, environmental record, public service efforts and technological innovation.

Ernst & Young Corporate Finance (Canada) Inc. joins Plastics News in co-sponsoring both the Processor of the Year Award and the reception. The March 7 reception will be one of the highlights of the Forum, which features 27 speakers in 2 1/2 days. The $1,395 registration fee includes one ticket to the awards reception; additional tickets can be purchased for $100 by calling Nancy Parks at (330) 865-6134. For the full Forum program, or to register, visit www.plasticsnews.com/forum2006 or call (888) 368-7229.