RPN Executive of Year: Linda Katz excels at Molded Dimensions

PORT WASHINGTON, Wis.--Linda Katz has been part of a manufacturing environment virtually her entire life.

Her father, Lorand Spyers-Duran, launched plastics injection molder Sussex, Wis.-based Sussex Plastics Inc.—now called Susses IM Inc.—in 1977, which gave the 10-year-old an opportunity to view first-hand what it was like to work in a factory.

She mowed the company's lawn at first, moved on to running presses on the third and first shifts, and eventually she worked as an engineering intern at the firm.

The natural order of math, physics and engineering fascinated Katz, she admitted, in addition to understanding how different products are made. She went on to earn a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering and material science from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard.

She's now CEO of Molded Dimensions Inc. while her husband Mike is president of the business. She has come a long way up the ladder in a relatively short time from those early days cutting grass, and through it all she has taken the high road, both company employees and customers said.

Selected as Rubber & Plastics News' 2015 Rubber Industry Executive of the Year and the first woman to be chosen for the award, Katz has proven to be a highly successful leader of the Port Washington, Wis.-based manufacturer of rubber and polyurethane products for almost 15 years.

Katz purchased a majority interest in Molded Dimensions in April 2001 from polyurethane pioneer and rubber product expert Jay Meili in the middle of a recession, just five months before the tragic terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

“There was a lot of nail-biting, shared sacrifice and hard work

in that first year,” she said in a recent interview, “but Molded Dimensions managed to protect our employees while paying all of our bills and impressing our customers thoroughly enough to drive significant growth in 2002.”

It helped that she and her husband, who have worked as a team since their college days, had strong foundations on the manufacturing side of the business. For her, that includes leadership roles in a half-dozen production facilities, including three years at General Electric—producing radar and sonar devices, aircraft engines, gears and motor control centers—and three years at Cummins Engine Co.—making air filters and doing corporate strategic planning.

“By the time I bought Molded Dimensions, my husband Mike and I had already thrived working at GE and Cummins together, getting our MBAs together, launching a family together and traveling the world together,” she said. “We had lots of experience, bringing out the best in each other, and we knew we would work well together at Molded Dimensions.”

Still, she admitted, it was a risky purchase. “It was a bold move to surrender all our liquid assets, sign a personal guarantee and borrow money from everyone who would lend it to us. But I was quite certain it would work out, and it has.”

It also has worked out nicely for the company's employees. An Employee Stock Ownership Program was created at the firm as part of the deal to buy the company. Linda Katz owns 63 percent of Molded Dimensions while the ESOP holds the remaining 37 percent of the shares.

Creating the ESOP made sense, Katz said. “When Jay Meili owned the company, he shared the financial figures and other important information with employees. We did the same thing. The work force has always been involved with the business. The ESOP gave them a piece of the company. It benefits everyone.”

Since 2002, the company has grown steadily, which is “a testament to how Linda treats the people who work with her,” according to the man who nominated her for the Executive of the Year award, Paul Allar, a partner at J.E. Shireling Co., a manufacturing representative in Owosso, Mich.

In June, the company was honored for the fourth year in a row by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as one of the Top Workplaces in Southeast Wisconsin. Allar credited Katz with creating an atmosphere where it is a good place to be employed.

“She gives handwritten cards to celebrate accomplishments, handwritten thank you cards for a job well done or just a quick note to say "hi.' This is ingrained in the way she does business,” he said.

Katz said that talented, happier employees create a better, more determined work force that does a better job for customers every day. “I firmly believe when really good people all row in the same direction, amazing things happen.

“Lots of times CEOs are very focused on the numbers and particularly on financial results. I feel like starting with the numbers is a little bit like staring at the sun, where it can make you go blind. At Molded Dimensions, we have a good budget and some financial targets, but first and foremost we do good work and champion targeted improvements every day. The financials end up strong, like sunlight that shines down into our business.”

Linda and Mike Katz believe in keeping Molded Dimensions a very diverse custom molder. It produces a wide variety of products—including rollers, bumpers, seals, shock mounts, liners, gaskets and numerous others—for a wide range of markets, virtually everything from medical to mining.

Its capabilities include product and material engineering, rubber-to-metal bonding, injection and compression molding, cast compression, casting machining, die-cutting and special packaging.

Katz has a unique and much appreciated management style, several employees of the firm said. “She's exceptionally intelligent and pretty strategic,” said Pat Roddy, a 30-year veteran of the company and head of its sales and marketing department. “She sees the big picture and is very organized.”

That strategic vision was one of the reasons the company opted to expand its operation again earlier this year and purchase rubber and urethane mold maker Knuth Machine and Tool in Grafton, Wis., rename it KM Tooling and move it to a plant Molded Dimensions purchased in Grafton, located about five miles from Port Washington.

KM Tooling occupies about 9,200 square feet of the facility, while the firm's GlocalSource division, which until recently had been housed at one of its plants in Port Washington, uses approximately 12,000 square feet.

Molded Dimensions' latest acquisition increased the company's employment numbers to 80 and gave it additional capabilities. The mold making factory joined two production facilities—a rubber products site that spans 32,000 square feet and a 24,000-sq.-ft. polyurethane goods plant. It also operates a 5,000-sq.-ft. warehouse in Port Washington.

Shortly after the purchase of KM Tooling, Katz noted in a separate interview that the mold maker “will not be captive to Molded Dimensions but will continue to be a resource for both the rubber and urethane industries.”

In the firm's first expansion move made not long after Katz took the helm, Molded Dimensions launched GlocalSource.

Companies in the industry had widespread interest at the time in purchasing cheaper offshore products, she recalled, so Molded Dimension began partnering with rubber product manufacturers in China and helped launch a joint venture in India in 2009.

Katz said the company makes a strong effort to satisfy customer demand for products made overseas but are engineered in the U.S. “Basic rubber products that package well with simple, stable designs and consistent usage can be a good fit for our global GlocalSource program, which provides local engineering and global manufacturing.”

Katz liked Molded Dimensions when she first toured it because she prefers working with smaller businesses “where I can have a personal relationship with each employee and where I can wear lots of different hats, working in all the different functions of the business.”

In addition, she added, while she has had a number of great managers during her early years in manufacturing, “I was eager to live without a boss.”

Linda and Mike Katz, both 48, have been able to flex their roles at Molded Dimensions and at home to best serve the company and their family, which consists of their three sons, one of whom is now in college, another in high school and a third in middle school.

During some of the last 15 years, she supported the children while Mike worked more at the company. Sometimes he was home with the kids while she worked full time. At other times they simply have shared responsibilities of home and work.

“We are both willing to be flexible to do what is best for the company and our family,” she said.

At Molded Dimensions, she prefers the internal operations of the company, particularly supporting the operations and engineering departments. “I like to be sure the right people are on the team,” she said. “I also spend time on strategic planning, mentoring and all employee meetings.”

Within the company, Mike Katz focuses on the external operations, particularly the financial and sales units. He also is working on facility and system improvements at KM Tooling's plant.

Linda Katz noted she and her husband bounce ideas off each other regularly. “We talk about Molded Dimensions often—at work, at home, in the car, on sailboats, on chairlifts, etc. The one place we limit our talk about work is at the kitchen table, where we like to focus on our family.”

Because they work well together, she said, “Molded Dimensions benefits from having dual sources of leadership. We bring our unique strengths to the business. Mike is great with customers and is an intuitive decision maker. I enjoy connecting with the employees and thinking long term.

“But our differences are much less significant than our shared vision for Molded Dimensions. Mike and I, as well as our leadership team, have worked together over many years to fine-tune our company vision, values and strategic initiatives, so we are all rowing in the same direction.”

In addition to serving as CEO, she is currently secretary/treasurer on the Polyurethane Manufacturers Association board of directors and in a little more than a year will take over as president of the organization.

Mike Katz has served on the PMA board and was president of the association in the past.

For the most part, the last 15 years have been very smooth for Molded Dimensions, Linda Katz said.

“We strive to have slow steady 5-10 percent growth,” she said, “and we have achieved that nearly every year I have owned the company. One of our three strategic initiatives is to build a diverse customer base. We produce 1,500 part numbers for 350 customers in a wide variety of industries and geographies. This fabulous diversity provides steady and interesting work for our employees.”

Its second initiative “is to make improvements in our operational excellence,” Katz said. The firm invests regularly in state-of-the-art equipment, she said, and it continually has cross-functional teams meeting to work part number by part number on eliminating quality issues and producing products quicker.

“We also work on operational excellence in the office,” she said. “Customers love our new product introduction process, which allows our sales and engineering groups to quickly convert a customer drawing into a high quality functional part.”

Molded Dimensions' third initiative is a key factor in the way she does business: Create a place where great people choose to work. “We don't make any decisions at all without asking how it will affect our employees,” Katz said.

“Every corner of Molded Dimensions is filled with very special people who work hard, solve problems and do amazing work for our customers. With certainty I can say that our employees are the key to Molded Dimensions' success.”

Purchasing the company has worked out better than she or Mike Katz initially anticipated. “Some of our favorite people in the world are our co-workers at Molded Dimensions, and we are extremely grateful for those relationships. We also enjoy the professional satisfaction that comes from running a successful business.”