Calframax - Kicking The Bucket List

Bucket List

This bucket list we're talking about is not the one you might be thinking of. I recently spoke with Matthew Little, who handles sales and service, at Calframax Technologies, located in Windsor Ontario. For over 25 years Calframax Technologies has been an industry leader in the manufacturing of plastic bucket and pail tooling. Over 90% of their business is in the plastic bucket tooling industry, so they know buckets. Calframax was founded in 1995, with three partners renting one location. The company remains an industry leader in pail and bucket plastic injection tooling and currently employs over 80 employees across two facilities in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. They even have the ability to test their clients tooling on site.

Fill Up The Green

These days the world is looking to green solutions in every industry, and this includes tooling and plastic parts processing. Calframax is part of this green movement and has been researching solutions that are able to reduce the carbon foot-print of tooling for their clients. Matthew says that, "over the last five years, there's been a big initiative in the market to reduce carbon foot-prints." Matthew shared with us that the company has had two major project break-throughs focused on green initiatives. The first is a co-injection process involving re-processed plastic material known as regrind. When they co-inject the plastic to manufacture a pail, they take the regrind and inject it into the inner layer. Matthew explained that you essentially have fresh or virgin plastics on the inner and outer layers and re-processed plastic (or regrind) on the center layer. This technology of co-injection gives Calframax the ability to produce tooling that can manufacture green pail and bucket products for their clients that are food grade certified. Not only is this more cost effective but it's a win-win for everyone, including Mother Nature.

The second breakthrough involves a project that utilizes ocean plastics. The goal of this project is to create a net zero carbon foot print for the plastic. Ocean clean up organizations collect various plastics and send them to a processing plant. The plant sorts and grinds the plastic up to be converted into usable resin. This resin is then used in tooling built by Calframax to produce 5 and 22 gallon 'green' plastic pails and lids. These pails are then used in a process that captures medical waste from various sources. Once the pails are full, they're ready to be disposed of, and are sent to an incinerator for their final destination. I don't know about you, but these types of green initiatives just make me feel warm and fuzzy about our planet's future.

Keep On Innovating

You may recognize the product in this photograph. You may even have a few of them lying around your house, I know I do. Entering into the big box and restaurant giant supply chain isn't easy. Calframax has not only innovated with new green technologies to keep pace with the changes in the tooling industry but also recently added to their arsenal of machining capability. Matthew shared with us that they're currently in the process of installing "a new 1100 ton Engel press. In January we installed a new Okuma Multus machine and Doosan HM 1250 boring mill machine, so we can increase our capabilities to service our clients for testing and try-outs on site." In addition to new machinery, Calframax takes a technical design approach with tooling projects. About five years ago, they they took an old five gallon pail tool and redesigned it in an attempt to reduce cycle times. By taking a hybrid approach of engineered and innovative component modification, such as Acrolab heating elements, and water system design they were able to reduce the production cycle of a five gallon pail by three to four seconds. This cycle time reduction may not sound like a lot but in product production terms this can add up to millions of dollars of savings and profit for clients.

Supporting People And Community

With the success that Calframax has had over the years, they never forget how that success is generated, namely by the employees. Matthew shared with us that each employee receives an executive membership to Costco. In addition to this, Calframax holds multiple employee events each year to show their appreciation. Every year, the company holds a BBQ for their employees on the last day of work before a long weekend in the summer. Every Family Day, a holiday in Ontario that's typically on third Monday in February, Calframax also has another BBQ for the employees and their families. The company provides food, prizes, games and even a large bouncy castle for the kids.

Calframax is also a huge supporter of the Ontario Young People Alliance (OYPA), which helps high school student obtain hands-on experience in skilled trade programs. If the student completes the OYPA program and shows interest in pursuing a skilled trade with Calframax, the company sponsors them in an apprenticeship program. Over the years, the company has also donated machines to the OYPA program to give students even more hands-on exposure in the classroom.

Calframax knows how to innovate toward green technology and that the best way to handle their success, is by giving back to the community and taking care of their employees. The company knows that the more they fill their giving buckets, the more they'll receive back in success and industry recognition, and it's showing.

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Special thanks too:

• Featured Company: Calframax Technologies Inc.
• Featured Charity: MS Canada - Support Them Here
• Donations Raised : $300
• Acrolab: Tool Heating & Cooling Solutions