Minnesota Rubber & Plastic breaks ground Thursday on a new $7 million, 9,000-square-foot innovation center in Plymouth that will put its material scientists and engineers closer to their clients.
Plymouth company breaks ground on $7M new materials innovation center
Minnesota Rubber & Plastics is building the center next to its headquarters to build stronger customer relationships.
September 7, 2021 at 1:48PM
The company makes custom plastic and rubber molds and components for original manufacturers and helps develop plastic and rubber compounds that work best for their applications.
The innovation center, which will be next to its headquarters, will help customers get products to market faster by working directly with Minnesota Rubber and Plastics materials scientists and engineers.
"We're excited to show the industry how bringing these processes under one roof will remove weeks from the component development process, resulting in unrivaled production-ready prototyping speed," said CEO Jay Ward in a news release.
The 76-year-old company is known as a leader in material compound development that also designs and manufactures custom molded elastomeric and thermoplastic components and assemblies. The privately held company did not disclose annual revenue but has 1,250 employees around the world.
"There are two foundational objectives driving our investment in the Innovation Center. First, we want to leverage our unique materials science expertise and design capabilities to engage with customers earlier in their design process," Ward said. "Secondly, we want to transform our business model. Our customers have told us that they desperately need their partners to help them get their new products to market faster."
The company said construction is expected to be finished in spring 2022.
The two companies announced the agreement Friday evening. The terms are effective immediately.
