Dream it, design it, make it with TyNik Molding

3D printing has made it easier than ever to bring your designs to life, and TyNik Molding can help ensure your model is easily moldable. They’ve even begun using leading-edge 3D printing technology to create the molds themselves. (Photo courtesy of TyNik)

TyNik Molding is a family business. Kevin Coon and his wife, Brenda, started the company in 1985. Their sons, Tyler, center, and Nik, right, inspired the business’ name. Both now work at the shop. (Photo courtesy of TyNik)

BY BRIDGET KRANZ

JUST THE FACTS

1232 Willow St., Faribault 507-334-8000 Tynikmolding.com sales@tynikmolding.com

With the advent of 3D printing, it’s easier than ever to bring your own design to life — but many people jump to take advantage of this new technology, without fully understanding the molding process needed to then manufacture that product on a large scale. Kevin helps customers turn a sketch into a 3D model that will not only work from a fit and function standpoint but will also be easily moldable.

“I have a lot of fun with converting sketches into 3D models. I love to help people, and it’s great to see their idea come to life,” he said. “There are more and more programs out there to design 3D models. Everyone is doing it, but not understanding the process. When it comes time to mold their parts, they find out the part isn’t moldable and have to start from scratch. I lend decades of design and molding experience to the creation of the 3D model — making it less costly in the long-run.” … used around the world (and beyond)!

While TyNik Molding often works locally, they also export Faribault-made plastic products around the world — and to outer

If you dream it, TyNik Molding can make it. Owner Kevin Coon has four decades of experience in plastic injection molding and prototype development. He can help take a project from a sketch to a three-dimensional rendering, from a rendering to a mold, and from a mold to a finished product. Need help on just one leg of the journey? No problem. TyNik Molding can assist with that as well. Kevin started the business with his wife Brenda in 1985 under the name Innovative Mold Specialists. He had graduated from the Tool and Die program at Faribault Area Vocational Technical Institute a few years earlier and spent the first part of his career making and repairing molds at the former Northland Plastics in Faribault. Before that, Kevin had owned an auto repair shop since the age of 15 and had always loved working with and fixing machines.

When Kevin and Brenda opened their own business, Kevin worked on tooling and sales, while Brenda ran the office and oversaw ordering. The company grew quickly and developed a large medical clientele. One highlight for Kevin was creating plastic parts for Medtronic pacemakers.

Minneapolis investors purchased the medical molding division in 2008, and Brenda and Kevin continued on as TyNik Molding -- named for their two sons, Tyler and Nik.

Made in Faribault …

Kevin and Brenda have helped several local clients over the years improve their businesses through quality, custommade plastic parts. They provide service that’s just down the street, keeping dollars in the local economy. One of Kevin’s favorite parts of the job is helping customers find new ways of incorporating plastic parts to improve their product — or working with companies to produce locally what they may currently be purchasing from out-of-state.

While they have a diverse range of corporate clients, you don’t have to be an established business to work with TyNik Molding. Come in with a sketch for a product idea, and Kevin can help make it reality. One of the company’s specialties is prototype development, as well, helping clients work the kinks out of a design before going to market.

“A woman came to us recently with a product idea that she’d had for over two decades. Everyone had told her that the job wasn’t big enough for them,” said Kevin. “She found us through a Google search and called me. Within days, I had

tumes at Disney parks around the world. If you’ve been to one of these amusement parks and met with Daisy Duck or Minnie Mouse — the eyelashes on their costumes were molded and manufactured by TyNik Molding.

“The possibilities of what we can work together to create are endless,” said Kevin. “We’re able to do work for every conceivable industry in the country and around the world.”

Like Kevin says, the possibilities truly are endless. In addition to industrial applications, plastic injection molding can be used to make toys, sports equipment, furniture, electrical components like outlet covers. Design a better way to manage cords, a slicker canoe paddle, colorful new roller skate wheels. Kevin and Brenda are there to help turn your product ideas into realities, whether you’re starting out with a 3D model or prototype or are ready to begin manufacturing. 

Save money, detect design flaw, and assess a variety of issues early on in the design phase with a plastic prototype from TyNik. (Photo courtesy of TyNik)

AmesburyTruth creates the majority of hardware and other components found on manufactured windows and doors for residential use throughout much of the world. (Photo courtesy of AmesburyTruth)

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to its location in the upper Midwest, the Owatonna facility plays a critical role in the company’s success.

“We are basically a full stop shop here in Owatonna,” said Rusty Callier, AmesburyTruth Director of Operations. “We bring in the raw material and we do the intermediate steps to process it here … through die-casting, punch pressing and then we add what would be our competitive advantage, which are some of our internal processes that really differentiate us from our competition all the way through assembly and distribution.”

Callier added, “We also have a fullprocess engineering group as well as a product engineering group, so we work very hand-in-hand with our customers to fabricate what they need.”

Before it became known as AmesburyTruth after a business merger in 2013, Truth Hardware began in 1914 as a blacksmith shop. Founded by Arthur Cowden , it created an assortment of chisels and punch tools in nearby Ellendale. The company later moved to facilities in Mankato before a merger with Reub Kaplan’s Owatonna Tool Company moved the company to Owatonna in the 1950s.

In 1955, Truth Hardware began manufacturing hardware and components for doors and windows, since becoming the industry’s leading hardware manufacturer. The array of products now produced for the industry includes hinges, door handles, window locks and keepers, rollers, window cranks/operators, extrusions and weather stripping.

Along with being close to the company’s roots at Arthur Cowden’s blacksmith shop, Owatonna has proven to be an asset for the company’s success, thanks to its location and the area’s work force.

“The city of Owatonna is a town that has seen a lot of companies come in because it has a good talent pool,” Callier said. “Our focus here is to become an employer of choice. We want to be at the top of people’s minds when they are looking for a place to work.

“Some of the things we are doing to develop include focusing on what processes we have in our factory and how people-friendly are they … safety is a main concern along with producing a highquality product grounded in operational excellence. “

Callier noted, “With all that being said, Owatonna is going to be a mainstay of the AmesburyTruth companies. This facility is one that is going to be developed out, modernized and certainly will be a factory, which from a strategic location, will become even more important with the major manufacturing of windows that is being done in this region.

“I have heard it said before that this area of Minnesota and the Midwest is like the Silicone Valley of the window manufacturing industry, and we serve a great number of those manufacturers out of this facility so we need to have processes to support the growth they (our customers) are going to see.”

Product innovation and custom-engineered solutions to customer needs have been a hallmark of AmesburyTruth and have helped meet the demands of an industry that creates the windows and doors which bring light and accessibility to our homes.

“Windows and doors are not going to go away,” said Tom Radtke, AmesburyTruth Production Manager. “For us, our continued success is going to come down to operational effectiveness, sustainability and staying ahead of changes in coatings and materials.” 