The Beginning of Team 1 Plastics
In the mid 1980s, three young plastic engineers (Jim Capo, Craig Carrel, and Gary Grigowski) had a common dream of starting a world class plastic molding company. They saw the need for a company to supply the international automotive suppliers setting up operations in the Midwest, specifically in Battle Creek, Michigan. Although they had a passion for plastic injection molding, they lacked the capital necessary to bring their dream to reality. Undeterred by the sad, empty state of their pockets, the three engineers went to family and friends to raise the capital. Eventually, they managed to gather the $110,000 necessary to start building their plastic injection molding company.
Soon, everything was set up to begin production of injection mold plastic. Unfortunately, business was slow at first for the new company. They finally made their first profit after 18 months which was just in time since all but $2,000 of the original capital was gone. After getting up and running, Team 1 Plastics took off at a remarkable speed. In 1993, Team 1 was the 101st company in Inc. Magazine’s top 500 fastest growing private companies in the United States!