ROTO NEWS
Carl Dobrzeniecki: In Memoriam (1954 – 2012)
up f r o n t
A true leader and innovator in the Rotational Molding industry, Carl Anthony Dobrzeniecki of Farmington, MO, passed away at home surrounded by his loving family on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at the age of 57 years. Carl was born on July 9, 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of the late Arthur Joseph and Dolores Veronica (Warnock) Dobrzeniecki. Carl was raised in Northfield, Ohio where he graduated from Chanel High School. He went to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio where he earned an Architectural Degree and Carl began working for Little Tikes Company in Macedonia, Ohio in the mid-seventies. He worked his way up in the company from a rotational molding machine operator to Operations Manager. As the company grew they moved their plant to Hudson, Ohio where it exists today. Carl moved to Farmington, Missouri in the late eighties where he took a position as VicePresident of Operations with Iron Mountain Forge. When the company was sold to Little Tikes Company in 1992, he stayed on for five years while co-founding Innovative Companies, which was organized in 1994. Innovative is currently in operation where Carl held the title of President. In 1998, Carl founded The Molding Company in the Industrial Park in Farmington, currently operating as Forte Product Solutions. “I founded the company because I thought there was an opportunity to bring my experience of high volume rotational molding to the custom market,” he said. After two years of initial and dramatic growth, Carl said that the year 2000 was a foundation-building year due to all the growth and development that occurred. He was named President of the Association of Rotational Molders International in 2000 – 2001. “With the great dedicated group of volunteers that support ARM, nothing stays the same. The only constants are the continuous evolution and development of the Association’s activities and the enthusiasm of the ARM membership in supporting the rotational molding industry,” he once said. Carl had his own brand of dreams and business style. His apparent and successful credo was to look straight ahead and listen to his customers, solve problems, innovate and challenge himself. He maximized the resources he had. His forward outlook, attitude and sheer determination to reach his goals in life and business underscored his journey in the rotational molding industry and served to predict his becoming the first licensee to step up to a new rotomolding technology, TRIP molding. “TRIP molding expands the range of applications into any product or market. It allows rotomolders
18 |
Rotoworld® • january-february 2012
to achieve injection and blow molding characteristics such as living hinges, solid flanges and multi-compartment tanks in a rotomolding application, things you cannot do through conventional rotational molding,” he said. In June of 2005, Kitterman Plastics and The Molding Company (TMC) announced a merger of the two companies. “This is an exceptional combination as it brings together each company’s respective heritage in the molding industry and deep-seated histories with specific account bases,” said Brad Robertson, president of Kitterman Plastics. Kitterman began plastics manufacturing in 1955. Carl Dobrzeniecki founded TMC in 1998, after his long tenure with Little Tikes’ toy division in Hudson, OH and the Newell-Rubbermaid commercial plan facility in Farmington, MO. “With an abundance of synergies, combining the expertise and services of our two companies will provide exciting new opportunities for all of our customers. The new company will have a balanced mix of proprietary products and custom manufacturing,” he said. Together the two companies exhibited a proven track record of leadership, innovation and nearly seven decades of industry experience. www.rotoworldmag.com