Spencer Industries -
Since its incorporation in 1981 as Spencer Plastic Products Corporation, our company has grown into one of the most versatile and diversified pressure thermoformers in the world. Using technology pioneered by its predecessor, Thermwood Corporation, Spencer has refined the pressure forming process into one that rivals injection molding in product aesthetics, while holding the cost of many of the processes far below that of injection molding.
Spencer’s original products served primarily the furniture and consumer electronic cabinetry markets. In the recessionary atmosphere of the early ‘80’s, two major factors contributed to a major change in market direction: 1) rapid decline in wood and wood product pricing due to the lack of housing starts and 2) equally rapid increases in raw material prices in the plastics industry due to oil shortages. These two factors caused both of Spencer’s major served markets to decline rapidly and, eventually, disappear.
It was at this point that decisions had to be made concerning our future in both the marketing and processing areas. While the pressure forming process required technology and sophistication in such areas as engineering, tooling and processing of product, we decided to expand these capabilities further into decorating and assembly; expanding our processes provided the marketing effort with a total range of capabilities to produce not only components but also as complete a product range as the market might desire.
In late 1981 these marketing efforts began to expand into areas previously unexplored by thermoformers. The development of the markets and relating these requirements to products and production processing required maximum efforts from all areas of expertise. The growing pains were quite massive, but, slowly, the results began to show. New customers were developed resulting in new products, products that could only be manufactured based on our newly developed processes and capabilities.
From our beginning in 1981 in a single 60,000-square foot facility, we now have 2 manufacturing plants & 1 support facility with a combined 443,000 square feet. Not only has the number of employees grown rapidly, but now we also offer completely integrated capabilities ranging from product development to final shipment. Literally no other thermoformer in the country offers all of these capabilities. A partial list of these includes:
- Complete customer service, which includes Marketing, Sales, Design Engineering Research and Development, Pre-Tooling Engineering, CAD Design Center, and complete Prototyping capability.
- Tool Design, Engineering and a complete tool shop.
- Sheet Extrusion, Coextrusion, and color matching
- High speed In-Line and large part Rotary pressure forming capability with both deep draw and Twin-Sheet availability
- Finishing, including Hot Stamping and Spray Painting
- Assembly techniques utilizing riveting, sonic welding, adhesives, and mechanical fasteners
- SPC and Total Quality Management procedures to insure the highest industry quality
These capabilities now allow us to serve many major corporations in a broad range of markets. In addition to being a world class supplier to these markets, we have also developed and marketed a series of products of our own in the consumer marketplace. Because of this diversification, in 1990 our company’s name was changed from Spencer Plastic Products to Spencer Industries Incorporated to describe more accurately the type of highly diversified manufacturer that the company had become.
While in the past we have won such awards as The Indiana Small Business of the Year; The Indiana Entrepreneur of the Year; and The Indiana Award for Global Competitiveness, we still continue to develop the state-of-the-art technology that has led us to these successes. We recognize that we owe these successes to our customers and to the people that make up the Spencer Team. Without the devotion and interest of these people, from top to bottom, we could not have grown to where we are today. Our continued efforts, knowledge, and desire will lead us to continued growth as an industry leader.