Plastic bottle maker and printer Precision Plastics Printing Co. moved its operations to Anaheim from Fullerton in an expansion that doubled its facility space to allow for more production capacity and future growth.
The new location spans about 100,000 square feet, with 45,000 square feet of that being warehouse space. The rest is split between the company’s printing division and its manufacturing unit, which operates as Precision Blow Molding Inc.
“The space in Fullerton was getting too small,” President Bob Bhagat said. “So we’ve been looking [for a new place] the last two, three years … and we wanted to stay in this neighborhood in Orange County.”
Precision Plastics has 70 employees, 55 of them on the manufacturing side. It makes 500,000 bottles and prints about 600,000 bottles a day, a volume Bhagat said could increase by about 30% with the expansion.
The bottles primarily are used for personal-care products and household items. The company declined to name any of its customers.
Privately held Precision Plastics doesn’t disclose financial information. Bhagat said the company has been growing by an average of 10% to 20% annually.
Busy
Precision Plastics has been “running nonstop, seven days a week,” since settling into the Anaheim facility, Bhagat said.
“We’ve always been running on three shifts. But in Fullerton, we were running five or six days, mainly because over there we didn’t have enough room,” he said. “We have three new machines here and more capacity. And we can store more here.”
It also helps that the city of Anaheim operates its own municipal electric system, according to Bhagat, who said the company now has more flexibility for its operations.
Killer Summers
“In Fullerton, we had to go through Southern California Edison, and summer was a killer,” he said.
He said the utility company would limit the times of day the plant could operate during hot seasons.
Bhagat is co-owner of the company, along with his brothers, Patrick, who serves as vice president of production, and Hiten, who oversees sales.
The trio bought Precision Plastics in 1991 from Manie Rhalter, who founded it in 1963 in Gardena. The new owners moved the company to Long Beach soon after the acquisition and again to Fullerton in 1996.
“We were doing only printing at that time, but in 1998, we started blow molding,” Bhagat said, referring to bottle manufacturing. “We started with one machine, and now we have 11. Now manufacturing is about 70% of our business.”
OnShoring
The company’s business has increased in recent years as its customers have brought work back to the U.S. from China, Bhagat said.
It’s an example of an onshoring trend noted in recent years by manufacturers nationwide as labor costs have increased in regions once considered bargain markets.
Quality control and timing of delivery also have been cited as issues that are driving an increase in U.S. manufacturing.
Bhagat said the company is looking to hire at the right time to support the growth in business.
“We are increasing a little bit,” he said. “There are a few areas we’re looking at, like quality control and sales.”
