PTI Engineered Plastics celebrates 35th anniversary

PTI Engineered Plastics is celebrating its 35th year in plastic injection tooling and molding this year.

Now a 165,000 sq. ft facility in Macomb, Mich., PTI was once housed in a dilapidated building on Eight Mile in Warren in 1984.

“In those days I wore all the hats,” said Mark Rathbone, CEO and founder of PTI. “I was the bookkeeper, salesman, estimator, program manager, production supervisor and janitor.”

PTI now employs over 325 people who have taken on the roles that Rathbone once had to do himself.

“PTI has had much growth both in business and workforce, and with this growth comes greater challenges, but also many rewards,” Rathbone said. “I can proudly say that I still have many employees that have been with me for 30 years, and more. I’m also honored to say that about some of my customers. In any business, a relationship with your employees and customers is the key to success; without those, you have an empty building.”

The company currently serves the medical, automotive, defense/aerospace, consumer products and electronics industries. PTI offers concept design, design assist, prototype, bridge tooling or production tool services. It also has manufacturing and high-temperature molding capabilities.

“Over the last four years, we have been training the next generation of workers through our PTI Technical Academy,” Rathbone said. “There is a shortage of skilled labor in manufacturing, so the Academy was developed to help strengthen the region’s workforce and industry. The Academy provides a pathway for students who have a passion for creation and exposes them to the high-tech, innovative world that manufacturing is today.”