Colo. shop’s success spurs expansion

All shop owners have stories about how they came to be running their businesses. For Steve McLean, president of contract manufacturer WP Manufacturing, Longmont, Colo., that story starts with the fact that the business was just 5 minutes from his house.

In 2008, the industry he had worked in for many years, aerospace, was in a slump and McLean was not sure if his future career path in aerospace was really what he desired—he wanted to operate more independently and thought he could do that in a small company. At the same time, the owners of nearby WP Manufacturing were struggling with debt and wanted to sell. Feeling up to the challenge and enjoying the idea of a short commute, McLean bought WP in 2008.

Courtesy of All images: WP Manufacturing

WP Manufacturing President Steve McLean.

Founded in 1970, WP manufactures parts from plastic and metal for the medical, defense and aerospace industries, including electronic housings, and assembles electronic measurement devices, such as electrical inductor cores and bobbins for measurement and flow analysis.

McLean said running WP has been incredibly challenging, but one of the best decisions he’s ever made—having been successful enough to endure the Great Recession that immediately followed his purchase.

The company is thriving, as evidenced by its recent expansion into a 45,500-sq.-ft. building McLean purchased for $645,000 in November 2011, in which he’s also invested more than $700,000 in improvements.

Yesenia Salcedo, senior editor of CTE, checked in with McLean to see how he’s developing the new space.

CTE: You moved WP to a building that more than doubles your previous space—business must be good.

McLean: Absolutely. We’re at about $3 million per year in revenue, up from less than $2 million during the recession. I expect sales to top $5 million in the next 2 years, with profit margins growing as well. About 75 percent of our revenue comes from plastic-injection-molding services and 25 percent from toolmaking and other work, such as screen printing and pad printing—the process of putting ink permanently on contoured metal or plastic part surfaces, such as the letters on your keyboard.

CTE: Did your company’s growth lead to the expansion?

McLean: We outgrew our old facility well over a year ago. We knew that to sustain the growth we’d need more equipment and more qualified people. The old building had no room for either.

CTE: What do you plan to achieve through this expansion?

McLean: In the near term, it will allow a more efficient flow of product and provide greatly needed floor space. We have nine plastic-injection-molding machines, ranging from 24 to 330 tons, and six CNC vertical machining centers and lathes. Now that we have the space, we are looking for another VMC and a clean room molding machine. For long-term growth, one of the key elements of the new building is a 1,500-sq.-ft. ISO Class-8/7 clean room. Even though we already make medical devices, having a clean room will lead to even more medical business.

CTE: How will the expansion affect staffing?

McLean: I have about 30 current employees and plan to add 12 to 15 more in the next couple of years. If medical molding continues to grow, it could be more than that.

CTE: What challenges have you faced with this expansion?