Amcor amplía su portafolio con PP Revolution, dip cups en polipropileno reciclable para servicios de alimentos.
Fuente: Amcor.

Amcor anunció la disponibilidad comercial de PP Revolution, una línea de envases dip cup en polipropileno para porciones individuales de aderezos, condimentos y salsas en el sector de servicios de alimentos. La línea está diseñada para sustituir las soluciones tradicionales de poliestireno y cumplir con los requisitos de responsabilidad extendida del productor (EPR) en mercados donde estas regulaciones están en evolución.

Los envases están disponibles en 10 tamaños, desde 0.5 hasta 2.0 onzas, en versiones transparentes, blanco opaco y colores personalizados. Son compatibles con los equipos de llenado existentes y ofrecen una barrera superior frente a las soluciones convencionales.

La línea se complementa con el portafolio de tapas EZ Peel de Amcor, con opciones metalizadas, en foil y en la versión reciclable AmPrima. Algunas medidas cuentan con la calificación "Preferred" bajo la guía de diseño APR para potencial de separación por tamaño, y con precalificación How2Recycle disponible para tallas seleccionadas.

PP Revolution se integra al portafolio de soluciones de empaque de Amcor, que incluye la línea PET Revolution de envases con barrera reciclable. La empresa indica que el proceso de prueba y escalado para nuevos clientes puede realizarse en un plazo de seis semanas.

According to Simba Jonga, founder of industrial recruiting platform Laborup, the challenge of the skilled labor shortage isn’t that there aren’t enough skilled tradespeople, it’s that these workers are difficult to find.

The skilled labor shortage isn’t a new issue in the manufacturing industry by any means, but recent investment and interest in domestic manufacturing throws it into sharper relief. Investing in education and training programs will pay off eventually, but many manufacturers need a faster solution.

Simba Jonga is the founder of Laborup, a recruiting platform that’s designed specifically for the skilled trades. “What I've seen is a lot of these workers are actually out there,” he says, “but they're kind of hard to find because they're not accessible in the traditional places that we look for work.” He says a typical example of this is a welder who’s working as a cashier at Walmart. “That's a misallocation of talent,” he notes. “They probably got that job because they couldn't get a welding job, but they needed to put food on their table.”

Jonga says there could be millions of people like this hypothetical welder. “We have to find them, and we have to figure out what they're good at, interview them,” he continues, “and then we have to bring that information online and make it as easy as possible to find them.”

Laborup is designed to help manufacturers find skilled workers, but it can also help workers as well by making the job market more competitive. Image provided by Laborup.

A Resume for Blue-Collar Workers

A number of platforms for recruiting and hiring online already exist, but Jonga points out they’re not set up for the blue-collar workforce. For example, he says LinkedIn has become “professional Facebook” focusing on a feed of content from connections and other creators, with a personal profile that’s a secondary element. Unlike knowledge workers, many people who work in the trades aren’t tied to a computer for most of their day.

“They don't have time to use LinkedIn,” Jonga says. Furthermore, “LinkedIn is the one social media that people clock in and clock out of,” he adds. “And what I mean by that is most people use LinkedIn during work hours. They use it to procrastinate from actual work.” So, if someone doesn’t use LinkedIn at work, they’re less likely to use it at all.  

Trade schools, especially in the past, also may not have emphasized job searching skills the way colleges do for their graduates. “Most of the people that are on LinkedIn went through a four-year college experience. They were taught to make a LinkedIn profile, to make a resume,” Jonga notes. “They were taught the importance of all those things.” He says he has heard from many blue-collar workers who have never had to make a resume.

Jonga wanted Laborup to make the process of creating a profile or resume easy for these workers. The platform uses a conversational, voice-based AI chatbot to “screen” users and create a profile for them. “We don't ask you to make a profile and make a resume and all these things,” Jonga says. “You just get on a call that walks you through the process.”

The platform’s decision to use voice instead of text to gather information is intentional. “Most blue-collar folks do business on the phone,” Jonga notes. “Especially in some of the more remote places, they sometimes don't have access to computers, but they might be the most qualified toolmaker there is in town.” Laborup is designed to close this gap using more accessible technology.

The resulting profile is more than a work history or resume — it’s designed to communicate that information “in a way that's more native to the work,” Jonga says. “This is the information that's useful for the hiring manager.” For machinists, this includes the types of machine tools a person has worked with, down to the brands and models; what standards they’re familiar with, such as AS9100 and ISO; whether they have experience in production or job shops; what roles they’ve held on the shop floor; and what tolerances they can hold. “It's leaning more into the skills that someone has and then verifying them through either credentialing or where they've worked,” he explains.

Laborup uses an accessible, conversational AI chatbot to build a profile for users. The resulting profile communicates users’ work histories and skills in a way that’s more natural for manufacturing work. Image provided by Laborup. 

Helping Employers and Employees

Jonga notes that not only does the platform help manufacturers hire new employees and close the skills gap, but it also helps employees by creating more competition between employers for workers. “You create more liquidity in the labor market, which actually draws more people and actually raises wages,” he explains.

Laborup is already having success in finding new jobs for machinists. Jonga describes one user, a toolmaker with 20 years of experience who was applying for jobs on traditional job search sites without a resume and not getting responses. Jonga says the screening process produced one of the richest profiles he’s ever seen, which helped the user secure five job offers within a week.

From Manufacturing to Maintenance

Laborup’s challenge now is to grow its user base. It gets in front of workers early in their careers by partnering with technical schools, but more experienced workers are harder to reach. This means leaving flyers in community spaces, looking to social media sites like Instagram and Reddit that serve as more of an “interest graph” than a career graph, and incentivizing referrals. “The thing we like to say internally is that one good machinist knows five other good machinists,” Jonga says. “Share to those five and then get every single one of those five to share with their five.”

The platform is currently expanding in the Southeast and Midwest. “We’re really targeting places where these needs are deep,” Jonga says. “We now reach hundreds of thousands of workers across machining, welding, maintenance, quality inspection, all kinds of different technicians and all the different variants that exist out there.”

For now, Jonga says the company is focusing on machining and wants “to get really good in in one lane” before expanding to other skilled trades. He notes maintenance as an area of particular interest, “especially mechatronics in the world that we're going into with more automation and robotics.”

Source | Composites United e.V.

Composites United e.V. (Berlin, Germany) is accepting applications for its winter semester 2026/27 CU Trainee Program, a study-concurrent training program for graduate students pursuing additional technical education in fiber-reinforced composites. The application deadline is Aug. 7, 2026, with the program running October 2026 through March 2027.

The program is structured across two semesters. The first focuses on theoretical fundamentals delivered across 7 in-person lecture days held at research institutions throughout Germany, earning participants 3 ECTS credits (two semester hours per week). Topics covered in the lecture series include:

• Ceramic composites
• Thermoplastics
• Fiber technology and textile preform technology
• Epoxy resins
• Testing technology
• Structural mechanics
• Hybrid composites and testing methods for fiber-reinforced composites.

The second semester optionally includes a thesis project completed in collaboration with a Composites United industry partner. At the close of the first semester, students sit a written exam prepared by the program’s instructors; those who pass receive a certificate of participation. Credit recognition toward a student’s degree is determined individually by their home university.

The program is aimed primarily at students holding a bachelor’s degree and currently pursuing a master’s degree. Applicants must demonstrate fluency in German, as lectures and application materials are conducted in German. In-person attendance is required for at least six of the seven sessions; remote participation is not permitted. The cohort is capped at 14 students, and a travel allowance of up to £1,000 per participant is available.

A secondary goal of the program, according to Composites United, is to give member companies early access to motivated student talent as a pipeline for future recruitment.

Applications — submitted as a single combined file including a cover letter and current transcripts — must be sent in German to: trainee-programm@composites-united.com.

Full program details are available at composites-united.com.

Source (All Images) | Epsilon Composite

Epsilon Composite (Gaillan en Médoc, France) has surpassed the production of 100,000 carbon fiber tubes using its patented K1 technology. The process was developed to industrially produce large composite tubes that maintain high longitudinal stiffness, optimized weight and precise geometric characteristics. This milestone, says Epsilon, marks an important step within its business activities, comprising a complementary blend of core pultrusion expertise and filament winding.

K1 combines filament winding with the integration of pultruded longitudinal reinforcements. As such, Epsilon is able to produce carbon fiber tubes — up to 800 millimeters in diameter and up to 12 meters in length — featuring high geometric precision and dimensional stability that can be subjected to significant bending or transverse loads (longitudinal modulus values reach up to 400 gigapascals).

Beyond K1, Epsilon Composite offers industrial filament winding capabilities that meet a wide range of technical requirements. The company can support projects requiring very stiff tubes using ultra-high modulus (UHM) carbon fibers, as well as thinner, more specialized or more conventional architectures when the application does not require the integration of pultruded longitudinal reinforcement.

Epsilon’s expertise extends far beyond the manufacturing process itself. It applies to the entire development chain, from initial analysis of customer requirements through to the delivery of finished components ready for integration. The company’s engineering department supports customers in defining composite architectures, selecting fibers and resins, optimizing ply orientations, performing mechanical sizing, conducting numerical simulations, developing prototypes, carrying out qualification testing and managing serial production industrialization.

Carbon fiber tube diameter capabilities.

This approach is necessary to tailor filament-wound structures to the specific constraints of each application, including stiffness, weight, dynamic performance, geometric precision, operating environment and qualification requirements.

The company also performs all critical postprocessing operations required after composite tube manufacturing, including precision machining, grinding with dynamic runout tolerances as low as 5 microns, dynamic balancing, assembly and surface treatments according to application requirements.

The composite tubes produces are particularly well suited for use in the production of technical rollers (film and flexible material conversion, printing, coating and processing industries) and the the yachting sector.

“Epsilon Composite has been recognized for nearly 40 years as a carbon pultrusion specialist, which remains our core business. However, this expertise has expanded to include another composites manufacturing process, filament winding, through a diversification strategy launched in the early 2000s around large-diameter carbon tubes,” says Alexandre Lull, deputy CEO of Epsilon Composite. “Beyond the symbolic milestone of 100,000 K1 tubes, this figure demonstrates industrial maturity and our ability to transform an advanced composite architecture into a fully controlled serial production process, supported by nondestructive testing, finishing operations, repeatability and the quality standards expected by demanding industrial customers.”

Estados Unidos se mantuvo como el principal destino de las exportaciones, al concentrar 75.4 % de los envíos de vehículos ligeros mexicanos.
Fuente: Getty.

De acuerdo con el Registro Administrativo de la Industria Automotriz de Vehículos Ligeros (RAIAVL) en mayo de 2026 se produjeron 342,926 unidades en México, lo que significó una disminución de 3.7 % en comparación con el mismo mes del año previo.

En contraste, las exportaciones alcanzaron 306,288 vehículos, con un incremento de 1.7 % anual.

En el acumulado de enero a mayo de 2026, la producción sumó 1,642,083 unidades, cifra 0.09% inferior respecto al mismo periodo de 2025. Sin embargo, las exportaciones totalizaron 1,388,236 vehículos, lo que representó un crecimiento de 4 % anual.

En este periodo, Estados Unidos se mantuvo como el principal destino, al concentrar 75.4 % de los envíos de vehículos ligeros mexicanos, seguido de Canadá con 12.5 %, Alemania con 3 % y Brasil con 1.7 %.

En cuanto al mercado interno, las ventas al público mostraron un crecimiento tanto mensual como en los primeros cinco meses del año.

En mayo se comercializaron 127,107 unidades, un incremento de 4.95 % respecto a mayo de 2025. En el periodo enero-mayo, las ventas sumaron 627,616 vehículos, lo que representó un aumento de 4.86 % a tasa anual.

Por marca, las cinco empresas con mayor producción acumulada de enero a mayo de 2026 estuvo liderada por General Motors con 367,532 unidades, seguida de Nissan con 205,445 unidades, Stellantis con 194,644 unidades, Ford Motor con 171,121 unidades y Volkswagen con 164,785 unidades.

En el caso de las exportaciones, las cinco marcas con mayor volumen en el mismo periodo fueron General Motors con 332,543 unidades, Stellantis con 167,646 unidades, Ford Motor con 161,098 unidades, Volkswagen con 134,571 unidades y Nissan con 133,377 unidades.

Source | Allied UV

Allied UV (Macomb, Mich., U.S.) produces UV LED cured coating solutions for manufacturers seeking faster throughput and cleaner finishing operations. Rather than selling off-the-shelf products, the company delivers its coatings through a network of qualified Process Partners — UV systems integrators who design and implement fully integrated coating lines suited to each facility’s production requirements.

UV LED coatings cure instantly upon exposure to UV light, bypassing the extended drying times associated with conventional liquid coating systems. Allied UV says this translates to faster production cycles and fewer bottlenecks in finishing operations. The equipment’s compact footprint also reduces floor space requirements and overall energy consumption compared to traditional curing setups.

On the environmental and compliance side, Allied UV’s coatings contain no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or hazardous air pollutants and are formulated to support RoHS compliance. The company positions this as an advantage for manufacturers navigating environmental regulations and workplace safety requirements.

La función de tolerancias por lote de Meviy permite definir especificaciones de múltiples agujeros de forma simultánea.
Fuente: Misumi.

Misumi Group ha actualizado su servicio de manufactura bajo demanda Meviy con una función de dimensionado y tolerancias por lote, diseñada para facilitar la definición de especificaciones en piezas mecanizadas por CNC.

Esta mejora permite a los usuarios asignar tolerancias de posición a múltiples agujeros de manera simultánea, lo que reduce significativamente el tiempo necesario para detallar piezas con patrones complejos y requisitos estrictos de precisión.

El sistema permite establecer una tolerancia específica para cada tipo de agujero, que se aplica automáticamente a todos los elementos de esa categoría.

Además, la tolerancia se mide a partir de un punto de referencia configurable, lo que permite adaptar el proceso a diferentes necesidades de diseño. También es posible seleccionar agujeros de alta precisión como origen para el dimensionado.

La función admite tolerancias de hasta ±0.04 mm en cotizaciones manuales y permite guardar configuraciones para su reutilización en futuros proyectos, lo que contribuye a estandarizar el proceso de diseño.

La funcionalidad está orientada a piezas mecanizadas mediante fresado CNC y aplica exclusivamente a características de agujeros.

Al automatizar el dimensionado y la asignación de tolerancias, el sistema facilita el trabajo de ingenieros y diseñadores, mejorando la eficiencia y reduciendo errores en la definición de especificaciones.

La iniciativa forma a jóvenes estudiantes de carreras técnicas y personas de comunidades aledañas a la planta en fabricación de moldes de inyección. El entregable es un molde que se presentará en el stand de Arburg durante Plastimagen, celebrada en noviembre próximo en Ciudad de México.

Matemáticas, taller y un apoyo económico: así opera la iniciativa

El maestro Alberto Lugo Ledesma, rector de la Universidad Tecnológica de Corregidora, y Enrique Morales, director de Moyá, formalizan el convenio de colaboración que sustenta la participación de estudiantes en estadía profesional dentro del programa.

La primera generación del programa integra a siete jóvenes: cinco personas provenientes de comunidades vecinas a la planta que no concluyeron estudios universitarios y dos estudiantes de la Universidad Tecnológica de Corregidora en la carrera de Ingeniería en Mantenimiento Industrial, en periodo de estadía profesional. Se espera la incorporación de un mayor número de estudiantes conforme avance el programa.

La jornada se desarrolla de lunes a viernes en dos bloques. La primera mitad se dedica a clases teóricas de matemáticas y principios básicos de inyección, impartidas por Enrique Morales, director de Moyá; la segunda mitad transcurre en el taller, donde el personal técnico de la empresa introduce a los jóvenes en tareas de mantenimiento y reconocimiento de componentes de molde. Los participantes reciben apoyo económico y uniformes.

Uno de los rasgos del programa es la amplitud de su convocatoria. “Este proyecto involucra a jóvenes universitarios en estadía y a jóvenes de la comunidad que por alguna razón no pudieron acceder a una carrera universitaria. Todos están participando en las distintas áreas del proyecto”, señala María Fernanda Servín, ingeniera de ventas de Moyá.

Andrea Morales, también ingeniera de ventas de la empresa, describe lo que eso significa en la práctica: varios de los participantes venían de trabajar en pequeños negocios locales y no se proyectaban en un entorno industrial. El programa les da acceso a formación técnica estructurada y, con ello, a un rango más amplio de posibilidades laborales en el futuro. “Algunos descubrieron durante las clases teóricas que tenían aptitudes matemáticas que no habían tenido oportunidad de desarrollar antes”, comentó.

Arburg, Meusburger, Hermle y la UTC: una apuesta compartida

Pedro Mora, Sales Area Manager de Arburg para Querétaro, durante su presentación ante los participantes del programa en las instalaciones de Moyá, donde expuso el papel de la empresa en la formación de las próximas generaciones de la industria del moldeo por inyección.

El programa opera con la participación de cuatro organizaciones externas, cada una con una función definida.

Arburg, empresa familiar alemana fabricante de máquinas de moldeo por inyección desde 1923, define el proyecto técnico que los jóvenes ejecutan y expondrá el resultado en su stand durante Plastimagen, feria internacional de plásticos que se llevará a cabo del 10 al 13 de noviembre en el centro Citibanamex de la Ciudad de México.

La empresa no solo aporta el proyecto: también respalda la visión de largo plazo detrás del programa. “En Arburg nos da mucho gusto formar parte de esta iniciativa”, dice Mariana Díaz, gerente de marketing de Arburg. “Lo importante es continuar con nuestra labor de contribuir a la formación de las próximas generaciones de la industria y a generar más personal especializado. Colaborar con Moyá, Meusburger y Hermle, partners que también están interesados en este proyecto, es precisamente lo que buscamos: que la industria colabore, crezca e interactúe de tal manera que trascienda a nuevas generaciones en nuestro país”.

Por su parte, Pedro Mora, Sales Area Manager de Arburg para Querétaro, resume la disposición de la empresa desde el inicio: “Cuando Enrique nos explicó el contexto que quería llevar a cabo, dijimos: aquí estamos, contigo vamos. La industria requiere talentos especializados para desarrollar nuevos productos”.

Meusburger, fabricante austriaco de componentes estandarizados de alta precisión para la fabricación de moldes, matrices y utillajes, fundado en 1964, aporta algunos de los insumos utilizados. “Nosotros como Meusburger apoyamos con los componentes y materiales que facilitan la fabricación de los moldes”, indica Martín Flatschacher, director de Meusburger para México.

Hermle, empresa alemana fabricante de centros de mecanizado de alta precisión de 3 y 5 ejes con presencia en los sectores automotriz, aeroespacial, médico y de moldes, contribuye con recursos de formación y el uso de su tecnología de mecanizado en el proceso.

La Universidad Tecnológica de Corregidora formalizó su participación mediante la firma de un convenio de colaboración con Moyá. El maestro Alberto Lugo Ledesma, rector de la UTC, describe el valor del acuerdo en términos concretos: “El convenio permite que nuestros jóvenes estén insertos en la industria. Ya tenemos un joven trabajando y otro en estadía, y con la visita que tuvieron nuestros estudiantes hoy habrá más interesados”. Lugo Ledesma añade que la vinculación industria-universidad es indispensable para que los estudiantes conozcan distintas ramas del sector y puedan, eventualmente, emprender.

El molde: de Corregidora a Plastimagen

El entregable del programa es un molde de inyección fabricado íntegramente por los participantes bajo supervisión del equipo técnico de Moyá. El objetivo es presentarlo en Plastimagen en el stand de Arburg, donde correrá en la nueva máquina Trend que la empresa exhibirá al mercado mexicano y latinoamericano durante esa edición de la feria.

El tipo de pieza no se reveló antes del evento, ya que se presentará como novedad durante la feria. Lo que sí está definido es que el molde llevará grabado un código QR vinculado a un registro fotográfico y en video del proceso completo de fabricación, desde las etapas iniciales de maquinado hasta la verificación final, según confirmó María Fernanda Servín.

El modelo de operación contempla siete etapas secuenciales: diseño y planeación, selección de componentes, fabricación, implementación, ajuste, pruebas y verificación. Los participantes intervienen en cada una de ellas acompañados por el personal experto de Moyá.

La brecha de talento técnico que dio origen al programa

Participantes del programa "Moldeando el Futuro Juntos: Seamos Más", junto con representantes de Moyá, Arburg y la Universidad Tecnológica de Corregidora, durante la visita a las instalaciones de la empresa en Corregidora, Querétaro.

La fabricación de moldes de inyección requiere personal con formación específica en mecanizado de precisión, diseño de herramientas y conocimiento de materiales metálicos. En Querétaro, estado con alta concentración de empresas del sector automotriz y de manufactura de plásticos, la disponibilidad de técnicos con esa especialización es limitada.

Enrique Morales, director de Moyá, sitúa ahí el origen del programa: “El desarrollo de talento está basado en un nivel de confianza sobre los jóvenes. Buscamos despertar esa pasión por los moldes y los herramentales que hoy Corregidora, Querétaro y el país necesitan”.

Skuld’s AMEC process uses 3D printed patterns (left) to cast metal parts (right). Source: Additive Manufacturing Media

Skuld LLC announces it is leading a project in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Rubble to Rockets (R2R) program, which seeks methods to convert scrap metal into usable components through advanced manufacturing approaches. Skuld contributes research in alloy characterization, casting evaluations and AI-supported design methodologies.

The work within the R2R program includes:

• AI-assisted spark-testing for alloy identification and composition measurement.
• AI prediction of microstructure and mechanical material behavior prediction led by WPI and MatMicronia.
• Ability to produce a wide range of aluminum and steel alloys from scrap including in thin-walled geometries and pressure vessels.

Recent research results demonstrated the elimination of cracking in complex geometries and the ability to achieve typical wrought strength from material that had only been cast and heat treated. A patent application has been filed related to aspects of this work for the ability to cast typical wrought grades such as 6061 and 7075.

Skuld’s Additive Manufacturing Evaporative Casting (AMEC) process uses additive patterns for rapid investment casting without tooling. The research explores opportunities to support production of components when conventional supply chains are limited.

As part of its R2R contributions, Skuld is developing small, portable casting systems intended to enable on-demand part production in constrained environments. These early prototypes aim to support greater flexibility in defense and emergency operations.

The R2R program includes contributions from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Foundry Casting Systems, MatMicronia LLC and other research partners working across materials science, AI/machine learning and advanced manufacturing.

“Through the R2R effort, we are evaluating casting approaches, alloy behavior and the use of AI tools that expand options for producing components in challenging environments,” says Sarah Jordan, CEO of Skuld LLC.

Transcript

Host: Christina Fuges
Guests: Gretchen Farb, Charlotte Canning, Alex Hoffer
Company: Hoffer Plastics

Introduction

Christina Fuges:
Welcome to the Leaders in Industry Show. I’m your host, Christina Fuges, and today we’re talking about what it really takes to lead through a crisis — especially when leadership isn’t centered on one person, but shared among three.

At the helm of Hoffer Plastics, a third-generation, family-owned custom injection molder in South Elgin, Illinois, are three siblings: Gretchen Farb, Charlotte Canning and Alex Hoffer. With more than 350 employees, they lead one of the most trusted companies in the industry, supplying parts to major global brands.

What makes their story stand out isn’t just size or longevity — it’s how they lead. Each sibling oversees a distinct area of the business: Charlotte leads culture and people, Alex oversees operations, and Gretchen manages finance. Together, they’ve navigated COVID, supply chain disruptions, personal health challenges and more — by being direct with one another, staying grounded in values, and remaining focused on what they’re building together.

Today, we’re digging into how this co-CEO leadership model works, especially under pressure.

How the Triad Leadership Model Came to Be

Christina Fuges:
A lot of people hear “co-CEO” and think it sounds like chaos. Alex, you’ve said that this reaction comes from a misunderstanding of leadership itself. You believe leadership is the process of doing things with and through other people. So how did this three-way leadership model come together? Was it planned, or did it evolve?

Alex Hoffer:
First of all, thank you for having us. It’s a great question. The joke is that one day our dad got tired of running the company and said, “You three go in a room and figure it out.” That’s not how it happened — but from the outside, I think that’s how people imagine it.

There was a lot of intentional planning. For years leading up to the transition, we worked quarterly with a leadership coach. Those sessions focused on conflict, communication and understanding each other — not just as siblings, but as business leaders. We talked about our interests, passions, weaknesses and the hard topics you usually avoid.

One of the blessings of that process is that I genuinely know my sisters better because of the business than I would if we weren’t working together.

Christina Fuges:
That kind of coaching forces honesty — conversations families don’t usually have.

Alex Hoffer:
Absolutely. There was a lot of self-realization. At one point, I wanted to be the sole CEO, and I had to wrestle with that. What I came to understand is that leadership — regardless of title — is always about leading with and through other people. That realization changed everything for me.

Dividing Responsibilities

Christina Fuges:
How did you define and divide responsibilities?

Alex Hoffer:
We gravitated naturally toward different areas based on experience and passion. Gretchen had been a public accountant, so she brought deep expertise in finance and supply chain. Charlotte is the extrovert — she came from sales and gravitated toward people, culture, HR and marketing.

I started on the operational side, moved into sales and leadership, and landed where operations and execution made the most sense for me. We were fortunate that there wasn’t overlap or competition for the same roles.

Personality, Culture and Values

Christina Fuges:
Charlotte, how does your personality and leadership style show up in the business?

Charlotte Canning:
We’re a family business, and like any family, we’re made up of different personalities. That diversity is part of what creates our culture. What grounds us is that all three of us align strongly around the values modeled by our grandfather and father: family, integrity, service and trust.

Those values drive how we lead — especially servant leadership and taking care of our people and community.

Handling Disagreement

Christina Fuges:
What happens when you disagree on a major decision?

Charlotte Canning:
We ground ourselves in facts over emotions and slow the decision-making process. We work the problem from multiple perspectives and use our values as the compass.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, we reach consensus. When we don’t, we “disagree and commit,” as Jeff Bezos puts it.

The Role of Coaching

Christina Fuges:
Gretchen, how did outside coaching help make this model sustainable?

Gretchen Farb:
We made the intentional decision to hire a coach early, not later. That meant doing the hard work upfront. We also each had individual coaches to work on our personal leadership growth.

We still meet with our coach regularly. Those sessions aren’t about day-to-day issues — they’re about strengthening our coalition and planning for the future. That intentional time is critical.

Christina Fuges:
That coach probably knows you pretty well.

Gretchen Farb:
Very well — and he holds us accountable. He pushes us, challenges us and doesn’t let us stay stuck.

Core Values in Action

Christina Fuges:
Alex, can you be specific about the values driving your leadership?

Alex Hoffer:
Our first core value is family — and that means everyone, not just the family whose name is on the building. Our mission is “going all-in for people, plastics and purpose,” with people first.

Integrity means who you are when no one is watching. Our vision is to be the company that always does the right thing, even when it’s hard.

Service means helping customers and team members succeed. Trust is built from living those values consistently.

Leading Through Crisis

Christina Fuges:
Can you share a moment when those values guided you through a tough decision?

Alex Hoffer:
We took over leadership on January 1, 2020, just weeks before COVID hit. Within 90 days, we were leading in a crisis.

Our rally cry was simple: Save everyone’s job. We reduced our own pay and did whatever it took to protect our people. Our values — and our faith — were the only things guiding us through that time.

Servant Leadership, Day to Day

Christina Fuges:
Gretchen, what does servant leadership look like in practice?

Gretchen Farb:
It’s honoring employees, customers, the community and the legacy of the business. We’ve sorted parts, delivered parts, supported employees through personal crises and celebrated their milestones.

We’re intentional about being good neighbors — our facility sits in the middle of a residential area, and we treat that responsibility seriously. We’re part of the community.

Siblings and Business Boundaries

Christina Fuges:
Charlotte, how do you juggle being siblings and business partners?

Charlotte Canning:
We lean on our values and faith and give each other space and grace. Leadership can be lonely, but shared leadership creates community.

We’re also intentional about boundaries. Family time is family time. Holidays aren’t about work — they’re about being together.

Supply Chain Crisis Lessons

Christina Fuges:
Gretchen, what was the toughest crisis you’ve faced as co-leaders?

Gretchen Farb:
The supply chain crisis following COVID was incredibly challenging. Resin shortages, transportation issues — it all hit at once. But we didn’t shut down a single customer. That’s a testament to collaboration, communication and relationships.

Communication Practices

Christina Fuges:
Charlotte, what communication practices helped during those times?

Charlotte Canning:
Face-to-face communication. Being present on the floor, explaining what we knew and what we didn’t. Constant updates through every channel possible. Presence matters.

Succession Planning

Christina Fuges:
Alex, how are you thinking about succession planning?

Alex Hoffer:
It’s ongoing. From developing technicians on the floor to leadership training for future executives, we’re constantly investing in people.

I also lead a monthly leadership development group made up of employees selected by their peers. We read, listen, discuss — and grow together.

Final Advice

Christina Fuges:
One final question for each of you: What advice would you give leaders trying to make shared leadership work?

Gretchen Farb:
Start early, be intentional and seek counsel.

Charlotte Canning:
Be humble. Everyone needs help.

Alex Hoffer:
Know your walk-away. For us, it’s protecting our sibling relationships above all else.