ABA-PGT Inc. of Manchester, Connecticut offers tooling, molding, and a can-do spirit. While it has embraced artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and other advanced tools, the company has a heritage going back decades. The firm prides itself on having a loyal, dedicated workforce, being employee-owned, and providing generous benefits and opportunities for staff.
“It’s a big company with a small company feel,” says Chief Executive Officer, Bob Hazelton.
ABA-PGT specializes in full-service injection molding and mound making. The company produces high volumes of parts and products for the automotive, bill validation/paper handling, water management/lawn sprinkler, window and door closure, HVAC, and medical markets. Of these sectors, medical accounts for about a third of all business at present.
Most services are self-performed at a 68,000-square-foot plant in Manchester and a 14,500-square-foot operation in Vernon, Connecticut. “99 percent of the work we do right here,” says Hazelton. “We do our own heat-treat, our own design work, our own gear engineering. We’re big on gear engineering. That’s our bread and butter. We do our own tool build, molding, and prototypes.”
The company can make everything from production molds to two-shot molds, high-cavitation molds, single cavity molds, multi-cavity molds, and multi-side action molds. In addition to molding machines, the team uses manual mills, lathes, grinders, electrical discharge machining (EDM) systems, and laser welders. About 60 percent of its products are shipped to international clients.
ABA-PGT describes itself as an “invisible suppler,” and by this, it means clients can count on receiving high-quality goods in a timely fashion with as few hassles as possible. Customers will not be barraged by sales pitches either. “We tend not to try to dazzle the customers with a Bruins game or a golf tournament. It’s more about the products and the projects and solving problems,” Hazelton states. “Without the customers, we’re nothing.”
The company’s history extends back to 1944, when three entrepreneurs blended their last names—Anderson, Bertsche, and Anderson—to create ABA Tool & Die. At first, the company focused on metal component machining, expanding into precision injection molding in the 1950s. During the 1960s, ABA started making precision injection molds for plastic gears and in 1969, injection molding work was spun into a separate branch called PGT (Plastics Gearing Technology).
The two separate branches were merged to form ABA-PGT Inc. in 1992. More milestones followed, with the Vernon facility opening in 1996, followed five years later by the addition of two-shot molding as a service. In 2002, the company moved into its current facility in Manchester.
The merger between the company segments also marked a new direction. ABA-PGT became an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) corporation. Under an ESOP, stock is made available to all staff, who directly benefit from the company’s overall success. Instead of being owned by a single person or a handful of partners, ownership is spread among the workforce. ABA-PGT staff members also gain from a profit-sharing arrangement, dental and medical coverage, and a generous 401(k) plan.
“The ESOP owns the company. The employees own 100 percent of the stock of the company. As people retire, the stock gets turned back in and gets redistributed to the current employees,” says Hazelton.
The ESOP has helped cement employee loyalty, as evidenced by the fact the firm has minimal turnover. “The employees here feel like it’s their company, and they pitch in. At the end of the year, if there’s a net income, it goes to the employees one way or the other, either back into the company, the bank, or as a cash bonus payout.”
To mark its 80th anniversary in 2024, ABA-PGT offered everybody in the company and their spouses a sea cruise, and regularly hosts summer picnics, Christmas raffles, and other special events. “The culture in the company is different than a lot of companies out there. When something is needed, these guys step up and pitch in, whether it’s extra effort or hours,” says Hazelton, adding that the company has “the greatest employees.”
Management is also happy to sacrifice if need be for the good of the business. Managers voluntarily took a five percent pay cut during the 2009-2010 recession, for example. The company has since gotten back on its feet and done a roaring business over the past few years.
ABA-PGT currently has 120 employees, most of whom work at the Manchester site, while the Vernon plant operates in lights-out fashion with molding machines kept on throughout the night without human supervision. A small crew arrives each morning to review the night’s output, make needed adjustments and perform other tasks; the company operates on a continuous work schedule.
For all its success, ABA-PGT does face its share of challenges, such as securing new workers. “We have a tough time finding employees… they’ve got to be the right ones. They have to have a full understanding of all the benefits,” says Hazelton. “It’s such a long learning curve to learn what we do here. We can’t afford to have people come in, [have us] train them, then they leave. So, we really invest in people… Because they’re the owners, you want them to succeed.”
To this end, the company prefers to promote from within and will pay 100 percent of schooling costs for staff who wish to further their education.
ABA-PGT relies heavily on repeat business and referrals, does not employ outside sales staff, and keeps promotion to a minimum. “We don’t do a lot of advertising; we don’t do a lot of marketing and sales,” Hazelton tells us, adding that good word-of-mouth is the best advertising there is.
Certainly, it helps that the company has a reputation for doing excellent work and a breadth of quality certifications. Over the years, ABA-PGT has earned ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 status for manufacturing precision plastic components and other products via injection molding, and ISO 13485:2016 certification for medical-related molding work. It is also ISO/TS 16949:2009 and IATF 16949:2016 certified for automotive products sold to international markets.
To maintain these certifications, ABA-PGT runs a comprehensive production inspection process that entails extensive documentation, monitoring, measuring, and verification. The company uses coordinate measuring machines, vision systems, sensors, and other software and hardware to gauge quality and stresses the importance of high standards at every step.
While plenty of other tooling and molding businesses employ their own thorough quality assurance procedures and own measurement/inspection equipment, ABA-PGT has an additional asset that helps it shine: the company’s ESOP status means there is no money-obsessed owner “that wants to squeeze every dime out of the company,” says Hazelton. Since everyone at ABA-PGT benefits from maintaining a healthy revenue stream, employees recognize the importance of consistently hitting quality benchmarks. On top of this, the company regularly buys new, top-notch equipment. Recent purchases include a five-axis machining center and a high-speed milling machine.
Going forward, ABA-PGT is intrigued by the possibilities posed by AI. The plan is to utilize artificial intelligence in various machines and procedures. “We just started to incorporate it into our development process and production. I want that AI presence in the company,” says Hazelton. “The times we’ve use it, it’s really helped out. It’s definitely a focus right now.”
While exploring AI’s potential, ABA-PGT is also “very eco-conscious,” and focuses on maintaining a clean facility, he continues. The firm recently conducted an energy audit at its facilities, adding optimized lighting among other measures.
Expansion is also on the agenda. Instead of building a new facility or adding on to existing structures, Hazelton is investigating the idea of purchasing a small molding company with experienced workers. “There are a lot of companies out there that have talented individuals: toolmakers, molders, and inspectors,” he notes.
Buying another company would enable ABA-PGT to grow without the need for a lengthy training period to bring new staff up to speed. Making such an acquisition is entirely doable, given its excellent financial position. “The company itself is debt-free. We own both facilities and the land and every piece of equipment in it. The employees are the owners,” says Hazelton.
Expansion is such a given that he frets more about the dangers of runaway growth. He aims to continue to build the company up, but not in a pell-mell fashion. “My goal right now is not to grow too fast—have controlled growth. It’s definitely going to involve AI and a lot of automation. We want to get into some assemblies and bigger programs but do it in a way where we can compete.”
ABA-PGT managers like Executive Vice President, Brian Lavoie, agree, emphasizing the human factors that have made the company such a success. “It is really about the people at the end of the day—the synergy we have all working together,” says Lavoie. “It’s really made it a totally awesome place.”
