Tim Bartz named National Mold Builder of the Year by AMBA

Tim Bartz, President of Mold Craft Inc. (Willernie, MN), a manufacturer of precision, multi-cavity custom injection molds for the automotive, medical, business equipment and electronics/electrical markets, was named Mold Builder of the Year by the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA; Rolling Meadows, IL). The award was presented to Bartz on May 7 at AMBA's annual convention in Indianapolis.

Bartz (pictured here with his wife, Kim) began his career with Mold Craft 23 years ago, working in the production operations of the business running CNC and other shop floor equipment. He held many positions at the company as he worked his way through the ranks, before taking ownership of Mold Craft along with his partner, Justin McPhee, in September 2007. Mold Craft's continued growth is based largely on Bartz's vision for the future in acquiring the right equipment and adding capacity and redundancy to create faster time-to-market and mitigate risk.

Bartz is very involved with education and with raising funds for scholarships. He currently sits on several technical advisory boards for local technical/trade schools and colleges, where he provides input into course curricula, updates educators on the state of manufacturing and gains feedback from them on the available talent pool. Over the last 10 years, Bartz has given numerous presentations to high school, middle school and elementary school students and teachers to acquaint them with manufacturing and the moldmaking trade.

The desire to give back to those who have served our country prompted Bartz and his wife, Kim, to set up the organization iWarriors.org, which gives iPads to wounded servicemen and women returning from combat. This is a cause they continue to support.

"I have been in the trade for almost 30 years, but that night I felt like I had not put in enough time rubbing shoulders with the past winners of this award," commented Bartz to PlasticsToday. "Winners such as Steve Rotman, Robbie Earnhardt, Andy Baker, Don Snow and Pete Manship—the former President and owner of Mold Craft who won in 2008—and now me in 2015 makes me feel pretty proud of what Mold Craft has accomplished," said Bartz.