Plastics News Feature: Parts Makers at This Custom Injection Molder Don’t Mind the Dark

There aren’t any machine operators employed at Plastic Components Inc., a custom injection molder with two facilities in Germantown, WI. Most of the time, the “parts makers” at the company’s roughly 38,000-square-foot facility on Bunsen Drive don’t need direct supervision—and honestly, they don’t seem to care if the factory lights are on or off.

That’s because these parts makers aren’t people; they’re machines. In fact, the company has always operated “an automated, no-operator manufacturing environment,” according to Gene Mussel, PCI’s operations manager. Monday through Friday, the Bunsen plant only has staff on the first shift to handle changeovers. But the other 16 hours—the second and third shifts—are completely unattended.