Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)

From landlord to manager Nearing retirement, Don Mastaglio instead built an acrylic firm from the remnants of a bankrupt business

RICK BARRETT Staff Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 
Published: August 21, 2005

Waukesha — Don Mastaglio was edging closer to a retirement of clipping coupons and collecting rent checks from his commercial real estate tenants. Instead, he found himself taking over the Midwest’s only cell-cast acrylic plant, which produces material for uses as varied as aircraft instrument panels and tanning beds.

Whether the move was a mistake or a blessing remains to be seen. But Mastaglio’s new company, Acrylics USA, has invested more than $600,000 into a $3 million plant since the previous business owners closed and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Mastaglio, 60, was an investor in the building when the tenant, Innovative Plastic Technologies, folded. "I got burned in the process," he said. "So now I am taking this out of the ashes, so to speak."

Mastaglio created Acrylics USA from the equipment, employees and other assets of Innovative Plastic Technologies. The newly upgraded plant is now capable of producing more than 6 million square feet of acrylic sheets per year. The company also is developing products such as hurricane-resistant acrylic windows that darken in direct sunlight. Such windows could find a niche in areas such as Florida, which suffered billions in property damage from hurricanes last year. "This would be the rich man’s version of plywood hurricane shutters," Mastaglio said.

Plant opened five years ago.

The cell-cast acrylic plant originally opened in 2000 in a new 36,000-square-foot building. Mastaglio signed on as one of the building’s investors in December 2002 but only became involved in the plant operations last fall when Innovative Plastic Technologies’ employees approached him about taking over the business.

"They convinced me that this was a viable operation," Mastaglio said.

The plant was originally set up to make tanning bed liners. But it can make acrylic for a variety of products ranging from aquariums to cabin doors for yachts.

One of the company’s strengths is that it’s highly customized. It has, for example, developed proprietary technology that allows customers to order a single sheet of acrylic at a time, in a custom color, instead of the usual 2,000-pound minimum required by many manufacturers.

The company also makes colored acrylic products that glow with a neon effect without using any power. Its main product is high-impact resistant acrylic sheets that transmit ultraviolet light without yellowing or cracking. Those sheets can be used in tanning beds, sunrooms and greenhouses.

To be sold in Florida as hurricane-resistant windows, that product must meet the state’s rigorous building standards.

"We are getting a little closer" on the windows, Mastaglio said.

Cell-cast acrylic is a good material for products such as aircraft windows because it’s tough, scratch-resistant and yet very transparent. Acrylics USA has a customer that wants thin sheets of material for uses such as cell phone covers. The company also can make acrylic up to about an inch thick, which would be useful for commercial aquariums.

There are only three other companies in the United States that make cell-cast acrylic for general consumer products. The three companies, each of them much larger than Acrylics USA, are all on the East Coast.

The lack of competition in the Midwest drew Mastaglio to the business.

Thick sheets of acrylic can be heavy and expensive to ship. Mastaglio hopes that businesses in Chicago and the Upper Midwest will find his products useful and more attainable than ordering from other regions of the country or overseas.

But with only about six employees and several million dollars a year in sales, Acrylics USA faces some daunting challenges. Its competitors, for example, are part of international conglomerates with deep pockets and well-established customer lists.

"They really control a great deal of the market," said Mel Ettenson, publisher of Global Plastics Letter, a trade newsletter in Franklin, Mich.

What might work in Acrylics USA’s favor, however, is that some of the large producers are showing less interest in cell-casting. It’s an old technology that produces a high quality product, but is expensive and labor intensive.

"There’s room for a niche player in this industry, if it’s done right," Ettenson said.

Varied background

Mastaglio has a lengthy and diverse résumé. In the 1960s he owned, produced and hosted a syndicated television show called "Let’s Go Skiing." He has sold airplanes and printing presses for a living, and owned a company that made plastic bags.

For decades, Mastaglio has bought and sold real estate. He has been involved in several company turnarounds, and he wasn’t shy about taking on the challenge of rebuilding an acrylics business.

"We have state of the art equipment, and we think that we are the low-cost producer" in the industry, Mastaglio said. "But nobody knows about us yet." The plant is big enough to produce about $30 million in annual sales, according to the new owner.

There’s also vacant land next door that would allow the plant to more than double its capacity. Ideally, Mastaglio said, he would like to find an investor partner to run the plant’s day-to-day operations so that he could concentrate on sales and forging a company strategy.

"I have been so busy trying to keep everything going, I haven’t had time for a long-range plan," he said.

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