What tariffs can taketh, they can also giveth. With metal prices on the rise, plastics manufacturing is heating up as an alternative.
"If you can think of it or if it exists out of a current traditional material like metal, we -- in most instances -- can reverse engineer that or duplicate that -- replicate -- out of a polymer or plastic."
Lehigh Valley Plastics specializes in these kind of alternatives. The tariffs have resulted in what they like to call "Opportunistic Advantages."
"Getting into the door, setting up appointments over the last couple months, roughly since March, has been a lot easier for someone in my capacity," says David Summers, National Outside Sales Manager for LV Plastics.
The customers are even coming to them.
"We're getting a lot of web leads now as well where the customers that we were hunting before are actually coming to our doorstep."
And they're busier than ever.
Our shop is at the busiest its been in two years," says Summers. "Our backlog is very hefty to the point where we're not going to see fall off 'till august where we typically would have."
"We can't keep up with the workload we have, we are currently looking for eight machinists."
Lehigh Valley Plastics remains optimistic, using their new growth as an opportunity to re-invest.
"The goal is to re-invest, continuous self-improvement and just grow the company. So growth onward and upward is basically our mantra."
