Page 33 - Flathead Beacon // 10.26.16

ECONOMIC INDICATORS 34 FINANCIAL CORNER 37 BUILDING PERMITS 38 BUSINESS IS PERSONAL 39
Business Monthly
MANUFACTURING
Glen Hufstetler, owner of Northern Plastics.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
Building Dreams from Plastic
Northern Plastics continues tradition of producing creations for inventors, municipalities and businesses across the country
EBY MOLLY PRIDDY OF THE BEACON
VERGREEN – AT FIRST BLUSH, Northern Plastics looks like most industrial facilities in the Flat-
head: a large boxy building with a red roof and garage door, and a sign indicating its business.
But then the small horse corral comes into view, and so does Ginger, Northern Plastics founder Glen Hufstetler’s 5-year- old mare, a gorgeous, red gentle giant. The corral runs along the east side of the building, which has windows into the main workspace, where multiple plastic injection-molding machines make every- thing from water meter covers for various cities around the country to barrels that keep food away from hungry bears.
Among the hubbub of machinery, Hufstetler, wearing a white cowboy hat, opens a window to let Ginger poke her head in, Mr. Ed-style.
“She’s my best friend,” he says, strok- ing the mare’s soft nose. “But she’ll knock everything o this bench.” On cue, Ginger begins lipping at a power drill.
The scene is a mix of industrial and rural, that little bit of ranching that hasn’t left Hufstetler quite yet.
Since 1992, Hufstetler has brought his
straightforward approach to business to this facility, building it from nothing into an employer of up to 14 people with man- ufacturing contracts from all over the
country.
Northern Plastics designs, manufac-
tures, and distributes a wide range of spe- cialty industry plastic products. Inven- tors will call up Hufstetler with ideas, and he helps bring them to life with the injection-molding machines.
These machines heat up tiny beads of plastic to about 400 degrees, turning it into the consistency of toothpaste. Depending on the size of the machine — the larger, the more pressure — the melted plastic is forced by literal tons of pressure into a mold speci cally designed for the project.
For example, the water-system covers made for the city of Beverly Hills have the famous logo included. San Diego, Chi- cago, Cincinnati, and the Virgin Islands are among other customers, as noted by the molds stored nearby.
In an upstairs space, an employee works on the smallest projects, such as protective caps for products from Hon- eywell and other electronics companies, including tamper tags for drones.
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Jerry Pitt cleans up the edges on a water meter cover at Northern Plastics in Kalispell. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON OCTOBER 26, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM