At a time when many American manufacturers were busily outsourcing to China, Hatfield's Rodon Group — and its sister company, K’NEX Brands — doubled down on domestic production. Their multi-million dollar investment in new presses, robotics and advanced computer mold-making equipment has translated into robust growth and a proud claim of being “cheaper than China.”
Rodon was founded in 1956. Today it is a third-generation family plastic injection molder that manufactures billions (with a “B”) of small plastic parts every year — everything from hose washers to push pins to all manner of connectors, brackets and fasteners. About 25 percent of its output is parts for K'NEX, the toy company founded in 1992 by Joel Glickman, Rodon's then-chairman.
Today Glickman's son-in-law, Michael Araten, is CEO of both companies; each employ about 100 people and operate out of two 125,000-square-foot plants, about a mile apart.
Rodon's prices are competitive with foreign-made products, says Araten, in part because of the company's vertical integration. The company designs its products at no charge, fabricates its own molds at considerable savings to the customer and has heavily automated its manufacturing.
“By doing all that in one place, we have efficiency and economy of scale,” he explains.
In addition, their heavy investment in technology, especially in robotics over the last five to seven years, enables 24/7 production and also helps negate China's cheap labor advantage.
With 19 percent average annual growth since 2009, Rodon is continuing to add capacity. Thanks to an imminent $2 million investment, the company is adding more plastic injection molding presses (to its current 105), new robots and other upgrades. Rodon is also pondering a physical expansion into a separate warehousing and distribution facility. Araten projects that the combined workforce will grow 5 to 10 percent by 2016.
According to Araten, expanding markets supporting the growth include construction (think plumbing parts and hardware), food and beverage (bottle caps), and apparel (buttons and zipper pulls).
Source: Michael Araten, The Rodon Group and K’NEX Brands
Writer: Elise Vider