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Spectrum celebrates 50th

Article-Spectrum celebrates 50th

Spectrum Plastics Group (formerly Midwest Plastic Components) celebrated its 50th anniversary at its headquarter location in Minneapolis, MN, on September 18. The company was founded in 1958 by Don McCourtney in a rented 20' x 20' space in the back of a bicycle shop. McCourtney built his dream using a $6000 loan, the support of his wife and six children, and a used press he purchased for $2000.

McCourtney Plastics Inc. (MPI), as it was first called, became a successful injection molding business, and over the years moved and expanded, moving to its current site, St. Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb, in 1964. The facility was expanded over the next few years from 20,000 sf to more than 105,000 sf, employing 75 people including 17 moldmakers, with molding operations running six days, three shifts per day. Don McCourtney retired in 1988.

That year, Jerry McCourtney (Don’s son) partnered with a British company, McKechnie, to form McKechnie Plastic Components Corporation. In 2001, the company returned to private ownership with Spell Capital as majority holder, and changed its name to Midwest Plastic Components. In 2007, MPC purchased a molding facility in Gardena, CA, and a prototyping services bureau, Dynacept, in Brewster, NY. Another molding facility, located in Ansonia, CT, was purchased in February 2008, and in June of this year MPC purchased Protogenic, a rapid prototyping service bureau in Westminster, CO.

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