February 12, 2016 Updated 2/12/2016
Email Print
MET2Plastics LLC MET Plastics has mold making and molding at its plant in Elk Grove Village, Ill.
French plastics and composites processor Dedienne Multiplasturgy Group said Feb. 12 it has purchased Illinois custom molder and mold builder MET Plastics Inc., giving each company its first transatlantic manufacturing presence and access to broader markets.
Dedienne, which has more than 400 employees and four factories in France and Romania specializing in high performance polymers, said MET will give it a profitable operation in North America and access in particular to MET’s aerospace and medical customer base.
Terms were not disclosed. MET, which will be renamed Met2Plastic LLC, has 35 employees, 10 injection molding machines and mold building capacity in its factory in Elk Grove Village, Ill., near Chicago.
“This new joint venture will be commercially and technically profitable for both companies,” said Pierre-Jean Leduc, president of CEO of Dedienne, in a statement.
DMG is based in Saint Aubin sur Gaillon in northern France.
Met2Plastic President Mike Walter said that “joining forces with a like-minded business will help us both to flourish as we grow our operations in North America and Europe.”
Met2Plastic said being part of Dedienne will give it access to more technology to convert metal parts to plastic for its customer base, and potentially better access to the North American operations of Dedienne’s European customers.
“This presence in Europe, along with the ability to offer new material and plastic and composite process technologies, makes Met2Plastic a more dynamic organization,” the company said.
In an interview, Walter said DMG has strong capabilities in research and development.
“From the first time we met with Dedienne, we were immediately intrigued with their capabilities,” Walter said. “They are very focused on developing new technologies.”
He said MET is a niche company and was finding that with a lot of its customers having operations in both North America and Europe, it was more challenging for MET to supply European factories.
As well, its customer base had been consolidating, he said.
“We are a niche company and specialize in what we call mission critical components,” Walter said.
Dedienne’s statement said Met2Plastic “staff and leadership will remain in place,” and said specifically that having a manufacturing presence in the Chicago area would be beneficial to DMG.
Walter is also the immediate past president of the trade group Manufacturers Association for Plastics Processors and sits on MAPP’s board.
MET Plastics was founded in 1970 making injection molds and manufacturing prototypes, but by the mid-1990s much of its business had transitioned to low-volume production runs.
According to Dedienne’s website, it has a range of manufacturing technologies, including liquid silicone rubber molding, thermoset molding and thermoforming.
