PORT WASHINGTON, Wis.—Molded Dimensions Inc. is a smaller- to mid-sized company that does things the right way from top to bottom.
“That's the way we operate,” according to Sara Sina, the firm's manufacturing manager and an eight-year veteran of the firm.
Quality products? Excellent service? On-time delivery? Pleasant with customers? Those dealing with Molded Dimensions can place check marks in all of those categories, she and other employees of the Port Washington firm maintained.
Most importantly from Sina's vantage point is that it's a great place to work, thanks primarily to the leadership of CEO Linda Katz, Rubber & Plastics News' Rubber IndustryExecutive of the Year for 2015. That makes it a place where employees want to go to work and produce quality products.
“Linda values employees. She gets them involved in the business and she makes decisions with them in mind,” Sina said. “She's a very nice person.”
Because of that leadership, she said, Molded Dimensions' employees are more of a family than simply a group of people that work with one another.
Pat Roddy, vice president of sales and marketing, and Carol Nikolaus, vice president of technical services, echoed her sentiments.
A 30-year veteran of the company, Roddy said Katz “has the whole package. She's super organized, she can coach and mentor, and she can lead by example.”
He noted that Linda and her husband Mike make an excellent team and “create a good atmosphere for the people—their number one asset—that work here.”
Nikolaus came to Molded Dimensions 12 years ago, principally because of Linda and Mike Katz. “I had worked with them at her father's plastic injection molding company,” and they demonstrated then that they would be good leaders.
She liked what she saw at Molded Dimensions and the way it was run when she was first introduced to the company. “Linda's smart; she sees issues from all sides,” Nikolaus said. “She's full of energy and a very positive person. She thinks both long term and short term.”
For instance, at times the company invests money in something it doesn't need at that time but it's something that will be important in the future, Nikolaus said. That sets the company up for success down the road, she said.
Katz is comfortable with slow, steady, profitable growth at Molded Dimensions, Nikolaus said. “She wants to take care of both customers and employees. We're careful about too big a jump, because that can be a real cultural shock.”