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It Starts With A Vision...
Crown Plastics really began in 1965 when Bob Ellerhorst (founder and president) took on a position at Formica Corp. in Cincinnati, Ohio working with a new polymer to the plastics industry, UHMW. The material was to be manufactured on a new state of the art high-pressure machine known as the continuous compression process. The continuous compression process had the capability of compression molding UHMW in a continuous form without skiving. Bob worked with Formica on developing UHMW polymers for one year before accepting a position at Edgecliff College as a chemistry professor.
Bob Ellerhorst
In 1971, Bob was contacted by Ken Meyers, who worked with Bob at Formica, informing him that the continuous compression process was available for sale. The 2 men, realizing the opportunity, scraped together the capital needed and in January of 1973, Crown Plastics was born.
The company started out in a small warehouse in Lawrenceburg, Indiana with Bob, Ken and 1 other employee. Since the UHMW market was still in it's infancy, there was a lot of product and application development that had to be done. In the meantime Crown began researching the continuous compression process and discovered that only six machines were built and three of them were in a warehouse in Jackson, Michigan. They negotiated a deal with Hoover Ball and Bearing, the manufacturer, for the machines and all spare parts in storage. Shortly thereafter they were notified that 3M, who had machine #5, no longer needed it's services and Crown was offered that machine as well.
In 1976 Crown was asked to build gas tank shields for the Ford Pinto. This was to alleviate the serious problem Ford was having with explosions in rear end collisions due to gas tank rupture. The product was very successful and Ford began to use the UHMW shields on other models as well. It wasn't long before GM followed suit and and Crown Plastics production began to soar. By 1978, the need for more space was required so Crown moved across the border to Harrison, Ohio. This permitted Crown to put 4 continuous compression processs on line for the first time. The 5th machine was scrapped due to numerous unrepairable problems. This left one continuous compression process, the Model 60 which had 48" capability, the only one not in Crown's possession.
At this time, Crown knew it had to develop more sales through distribution. Bob brought on his son, Gary, to begin building the distributor market. As this market slowly grew, the demand in the automotive market began to diminish due to re-engineering. The need to diversify was critical so Crown began to lease it's continuous compression process technology to a number of outside companies who were eager to take advantage of this machine's capabilities. Companies such as Allied Chemical, Dow, Furon and DuPont were lining up to do composite, laminate and engineering projects.
Again by this time, space was becoming critical and a new facility was constructed across the the street to their current location. It was then they were able to track down and acquire the Model 60. This finally gave Crown sole possession of the entire continuous compression process family.
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In February of 1992, Gary and Bob set out to Las Vegas on what they hoped could be the next area of opportunity, the snowboard industry. Prior to Crown's involvement in this industry, the snowboard manufacturers, primarily domestic, were all importing their base from Austria. This meant long lead times and high freight. Crown was able to offer a domestically made product that was not skived which could provide better printing characteristics and ease of processing. The product was immediately accepted and soon became the "Standard" for sintered base material used in the US. This immediate growth required a 5000 sq. ft. addition in 1992 followed by an additional 30,000 sq. ft. expansion in 1994.
The growth of the Snowboard market forced Crown to change it's approach to doing business. Crown beefed up its management staff which included a quality department and R&D staff. Along with Gregg Ellerhorst, Chief Engineer, advancements were made in continuous compression process technology as well as feeding systems and product quality and output significantly increased across the board.
To help relieve Gary of some of the increased sales pressures, Pete Ellerhorst was added to the sales department in 1993 after supervising the Downline Production area which processed the ever increasing distributor based materials. The same year, Crown was again approached to supply material to the automotive market. This time it involved noise reduction films and tapes Which are applied to interior trim parts to eliminate buzz, squeak and rattle. Crown is currently a major player in this highly competitive market and has maintained high market share and customer loyalty through exceptional service and commitment to meeting and exceeding customer requirements.
2002 was a big year for Crown. For the first time in company history, Crown was able to produce 24Ó wide UHMW in continuous coil.This has opened up new application possibilities and markets where wider material requirements exceeded CrownÕs previous capability. Crown also began forging ahead with testing additives to enhance coefficient of friction and abrasion resistance. New co-sintering was developed to allow two different grades or blends of UHMW, or possibly UHMW and another material to be molded or sintered together. This capability is unique to Crown Plastics and can be found no where else in the world. A partnership with Poly Hi Solidur of Ft. Wayne, Indiana has also provided Crown with access To Poly HiÕs wide range of custom formulations giving Crown exclusive rights to provide these formulations in thin gauge and tape forms while at the same time utilizing the familiar Tivar brands such as Tivar 88, Dry Slide and Tivar HOT.
Bob, Sitting. Gary, Pete, and Gregg (L to R)
In 2003 Crown achieved ISO 9000 certification which has elevated them into a level of elite quality status. This certification will not only help solidify CrownÕs position in the market as a quality supplier, but also be an asset in the establishment of new markets such as railroad, fitness, boating and aerospace.
Bob, while still active in his role as President and CEO, now looks to spend more time with his wife Marian. Gary maintains the position of Chief Operations Officer and oversees snowboard sales and marketing, Gregg is Vice President, Safety Manager and Chief Engineer heading research and development and Pete, Sales Manager, is responsible for distributor, automotive and OEM markets, marketing and application development.
Crown's future continues to shine brightly as they head into this new millennium. With control of nearly 90% of the US sintered Snowboard market, increasing opportunity in the automotive market, untapped distributor potential and new markets continuing to unfold, the need for Crown's expanding product line is greater now than ever before. And thanks to Bob Ellerhorst's vision and commitment, the continuous compression process and thin gauge UHMW are here to stay.
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