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Donnelly Intends to Boost Customer Base

ALEXANDRIA, MINN. (3/31/03) - Donnelly Custom Manufacturing Co. may expand its injection molding capabilities to broaden its customer base.

President Ron Kirscht said current market conditions are tough and his company is being proactive to attract new customers. "You can't just sit back and wait for someone to come looking for you,'' Kirscht said in a recent telephone interview from Donnelly's office and plant in Alexandria, Minn.

Donnelly is discussing with an original equipment manufacturer a program that would require a new coinjection press, a first for the company. Another project probably would require the company to buy its second vertical rotary press.

The programs would follow recent investments in a 125-ton Newbury vertical rotary press and installation of an X-ray machine. In the past year the firm also added gas-assist molding to its services.

Kirscht said Donnelly's first vertical rotary press helped it land a contract to mold cylinder handles out of glass-filled nylon for Graco Inc. Graco of Minneapolis uses the handles for contractor-equipment spray guns. Donnelly molds the 10-gram parts in a four-cavity mold, then transfers them to an automated pad printer.

Donnelly already had two other vertical presses, Arburg models, but needed a rotary machine to land the job, worth $200,000 a year.

For another customer, Donnelly installed a North Star Imaging 80kV Microfocus X-ray machine to ensure there are no voids in a thick-wall component.

Donnelly specializes in short-run programs. It operates 28 presses with clamping forces of 28-700 tons. Sales for the 220-employee company were about $20 million for the year ended Sept. 30.