Matrix Plastic Products of Wood Dale celebrates 40th anniversary

Founded in 1978 by brothers Paul and James Ziegenhorn, and their father, William, Matrix Tooling Inc. began with seven employees, a rich family tradition of moldmaking craftsmanship, and an unwavering focus on customer service.

Four decades and three buildings later, Matrix has evolved from strictly a mold design and fabrication shop into a premier plastics manufacturing facility that incorporates moldmaking with injection molding and other value-added services to produce some of the most critical components and sub-assemblies currently being used in the medical device industry and other high-performance applications.

"Over the years, as our customers' demands grew, we responded by broadening our value-added service offerings," says Paul Ziegenhorn, president. "In 1995, we put our first molding press on the floor so we could perform our own mold samplings and run small volumes for our customers. We also expanded our inspection capabilities by adding a QA lab, and certified our quality system to ISO 9001 by 1999 - one of the first mold shops to do so. At that time, molding production made up a very small portion of our sales, but the momentum had already begun."

In 2000, Matrix secured the trade name Matrix Plastic Products and built a 10,000-square-foot addition dedicated to molding production. An ISO 8/Class 100k cleanroom was installed in 2006, and given the heavy emphasis on medical work, ISO 13485 certification was added in 2010.

Today, Matrix operates 15 presses ranging from 5 to 300 tons, and has added assembly and 3-D prototyping to further extend their full-service menu. The QA lab has also grown dramatically and features four OGP multi-sensor metrology systems to support a myriad advanced inspection protocols. A CT scanner is on the soon-to-come list. "This company has never shied away from technology," says Gary Johansson, VP of Quality/Regulatory. "We understand that we need to have better equipment than the competition to keep the high-level work coming here."

Given this evolution, the decision to move forward with the single corporate identity Matrix Plastic Products is both practical and tactical. "It is the more inclusive name and better represents our broader mix of services today," says Andy Ziegenhorn, chief operating officer. "But we are still moldmakers by trade, so ensuring the integrity of the tools we run in production will always be hard-wired into the way we operate here."

To learn more about the complete contract manufacturing experience that Matrix Plastic Products has to offer, visit their new website at www.matrixplastic.com.