Formula of fundamentals

Teapot lids, plastic screen frames, dog dishes, computer components they're all plastic, and all manufactured by Triad Plastic Techologies, a privately held, Reno-based company.

"Reno's not the capital of plastics," says Triad president, Greg Latimer.

But the city is proving good for his end of the plastic business.

Triad is in the midst of a rapid expansion phase.

Triad manufactures plastic parts and pieces using a plastic injection molding process.

The company's success Triad reported $5 million annual gross last year and is projecting about a 13 percent growth per year over the next five years is due to a simple formula of fundamentals, says Latimer.

Those fundamentals? Satisfied, long-term employees, customer service, and efficient, reliable product manufacturing.

The basics, says Latimer.

But add to that modest assessment a few savvy twists and turns chosen in the road recently taken and the rest of the company's expansion story emerges.

Triad added robotics, starting about two years ago, says Latimer.

The movement of robot arms fast and unchanging replaced the smarter but slower human hands of yore.

Triad increased production efficiency by 50 percent on each machine, according to Latimer.

Coupled with that was employee satisfaction.

Operators were not fired; they changed job descriptions.

Today, Triad uses robotics on all of its plastic injection equipment.

Latimer also brought in rapid prototyping equipment for production of prototypes in both photopolymer and ABS

(acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene) materials a big selling point with custom plastics customers.

Triad also expanded physically from its 40,000-square-foot building on Double Diamond Parkway into the 12,000-square-foot building across the street."And we're in the market for more," says Latimer,"another 20,000 square feet." The company uses the space for the assembly and shipping side of its expansion.

It markets itself as a start-to-finish shop, selling it all, from engineering a prototype and a custom mold to manufacturing the plastic part, to assembling, packaging, and shipping.

That takes floor space.

Some products require more than others.

Big dog water bowls, for example, that Triad produces for Veterinary Ventures take a great deal more than the ticket-in, ticket- out slots for IGT's gaming machines that Triad also makes.

The company sells more than just plastic manufacturing, adds Latimer.

It sells a service and, for some clients, a one-stop shop for their product creation and shipping.A possible future addition to the service is blow-molding, a process used to manufacture jars.Another is electro-plating.

When your competition is every other custom plastic molding company in the world products going to China as well as other U.S.

firms you need an edge and a niche.

"Our niche is a high-line market segment," says Latimer."We make complex parts."

The company does not attempt to compete with offshore manufacturers spitting out dimestore plastic.

Triad, an ISO 9002 - registered company, is required to ensure that the last piece created on any job is absolutely identical to the first.

And how do you get the word out when your customer can come from anywhere with a product that goes almost anywhere? Triad has a Web site, does trade shows, but doesn't do much marketing.

Ultimately, says Latimer, most business comes in from word-of-mouth.