ABOUT US

having fun with
good friends along the way.

Plastic Ingenuity was founded by Joe Kuehn. He graduated the University of Wisconsin in 1967 with a mechanical engineering degree. His interest in plastics developed from Professor Ron Dagget whome also owned and operated Engineering Industries in Verona, Wisconsin. Joe's new interest in plastic led him to Buffalo, New York where he worked as a sales engineering trainee for Durez Plastics. Life in Buffalo was unpleasant for Joe's family, so they decided to move back to Madison, Wisconsin.

Before Joe moved back to Wisconsin, Gisholt Machine Company, a division of Giddings & Kewis, decided to expand into numerical controlled machinery. Joe took a job here as a machine design engineer in the vertical turret lathe area. During his three year stay in the company, Joe gained an extensive knowledge on machines, tools, and design. The other mechanics and engineers proved to be great mentors for Joe due to their long list of experience and talents. He also formed some great friendships here whom eventually became key people once he started Plastic Ingenuity. Gisholt was struggling financially due to Japanese competition. In 1971 the overseas competition put them out of business, and Joe out of a job.

Joe was now ready to start his own thermoforming business, and decided that the company's competitive advantage would be faster delivery, better customer service, and innovation. After difficulties getting a bank loan, the Small Business Administration (SBA) was willing to guarantee up to 90% of a $50,000 loan. He then got a loan from the State Bank of Cross Plains under the promise that if a plant was ever needed, it must be built in Cross Plains, WI.

With the new loan, Joe rented a 1,3000 square foot garage in Madison. He spent $40,000 of his available $50,000 on a new Brown 2025, a new Bridgeport Mill, a new 25 Hp Quincy air compressor, and an assortment of used shop equipment. He successfully landed a few small jobs, including a Brown OPS candy tray from Bob White in Madison, a hardware blister from Standard Packaging in Darien, Wisconsin, and two cheese molds from the Wisconsin Cheeseman in Sun Prarie. There were not hugely profitable jobs, and he only survived with family loans and free labor.

Joe spent a lot of his time trying to convince George Stauffer at Stauffer Cheese in Mt. Horeb to use plastic instead of cardboard to hold his foil wrapped cheese products. Even though samples had been sent and approved, the plastic was a more expensive option than the cardboard. One Thursday afternoon Joe got a call from George telling him their current supplier had problems and wasn't able to ship them anything for a week. So Stauffer Cheese either had to find a new supplier or shut down production for a week. Joe had until Monday to build a tool, a knife, find plastic, and run parts or face a very likely bankruptcy. He accomplished the near impossible, delivered the parts via his beat down Oldsmobile, and continues to do business with them this day.

By 1974 business was growing and he expanded into three garages in the same Madison complex. His brother, Tom Kuehn soon jumped on board with Joe to help try to expand the company. In 1975 it was obvious a real plant was needed, so they built a 6,000 square foot facility in Cross Plains as promised.

Plastic Ingenuity's source of Hips sheet was unreliable for quality and timeliness. After a week late shipment, Joe decided it was finally time to do something about it. His brother, Jim Kuehn, was brought on board to supply in house sheet extrusion. Plastic Ingenuity purchased a used 2 ½ inch line from Oscar Meyer which allowed them to make high quality parts and be able to deliver them even quicker.

Through the years, Plastic Ingenuity developed match metal trimming, CNC machining, CAD/CAM design, Co extrusion, and PET technology. In 1987 they added a two story brick office complex. It was becoming obvious that they needed to expand even more. Research indicated a lot of their business was from the Southeast. In 1990, they purchased two buildings on a 12 ace lot in Oxford, North Carolina. A team of ten people from Cross Plains were sent down to head the operations. The plant operates on an independent basis, and maintains its own sales, engineering, tooling, and production services. Due to demand, Plastic Ingenuity built another 30,000 square foot plant in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1992.

In 1995 Joe Kuehn was killed in a tragic plane crash. His brother, Tom Kuehn, had to fill his brother's shoes and continue to guide the company as a leader in the thermoforming industry.