Plastics, Machinery & Manufacturing Magazine

Through the years it’s been said our people, products, and legacy here at Milacron are something special- ask Steve Steward, a 35-year veteran of the company. He’s the third in a line of four generations, consisting of five family members, and more than 110 years of tenured service to the Southwest Ohio-based company.

When Steve was hired in Milacron assembly back in 1988, he signed a 20-year commitment within that division. Little did he know the journey his career would take with the company over the next more than three decades, including powerline machines in the old Oakley facility, several years as a specialist of the VH machine (a retired injection molding series), a season of extensive travel in the warranty service sector, facility and organizational transitions, as well as the birth of his twin sons that would also eventually carry on the family legacy for years to come.

Associate Spotlight: The Stewards A Milacron Legacy - Milacron

These days Steve works at Milacron’s global headquarters just outside Batavia, Ohio as a Customer Account Specialist in auxiliary parts, where he relies on his extensive 35 years of industry knowledge to help him effectively document and troubleshoot injection molding machines. It’s a vastly different role than the assembly gig that introduced him to Milacron alongside his dad and grandpa in the 80s.

Steve attributes his longevity at Milacron to that of his father’s 44-year commitment to the company. Tom Steward, Jr. started at the Milacron Oakley facility as a University of Cincinnati Engineering Co-Op in the late 60s, before transferring to the Purchasing division at Afton in 1971. Tom Jr. had his hands in many buckets (no pun intended) as the industry shifted and plastics processing continued to expand in the 80s and 90s, including the Contract Service division at the Mt. Orab facility, where he inevitably retired in 2000. His father, the first generation of Stewards employed by the company, actually joined Milacron later in life, spending ten years also in Mt. Orab as a machinist before retiring in the late 1980’s. The apple certainly didn’t fall far from the tree!

Fast-forward to 2024, and Steve’s twin sons, the fourth generation of Stewards at Milacron, proudly stand alongside dad – Dustin in Aftermarket Sales with 13 years of service, and Dylan in General Parts with a decade under his belt. They are confident Great Grandpa Steward would be proud, as well as in awe of the industry and technology trends of today’s Milacron, so much of which has been touched by a Steward for decades-on-end.

Associate Spotlight: The Stewards A Milacron Legacy - Milacron

As for Steve, his 35-year tenure was celebrated during the company’s quarterly associate service award event at the end of 2023. And, although he currently enjoys the presence of his boys as co-workers at the Milacron headquarters facility, their drag racing weekends together are far more entertaining!

Cincinnati Business Courier

Bemis Manufacturing Company first turned to Milacron in the 1970s for machine solutions that produced a variety of plastics for its operations in both the consumer and commercial markets. From top-of-the-line household products like toilet seats, bidets, and faucets to healthcare solutions, after nearly fifty years in partnership, Milacron still delivers first-class innovation, technology, and service to the processor – a true lifecycle partnership in plastics.

One of their first collaborative advancements, Milacron and Bemis pioneered co-injection technology to improve part performance and cost, while minimizing cycle time and production volume. Eventually, co-injection would help integrate PCR (post-consumer recycled) into the plastics manufacturing process, offering a more sustainable alternative for processors today. The Bemis fleet of Milacron solutions includes a variety of high-pressure injection molding machines, co-injection, and digital control technologies.

Bemis: A lifecycle partner with possibility for decades - Milacron
Bemis: A lifecycle partner with possibility for decades – Milacron

In recent years Bemis posed Milacron with the need for machine retrofits and digital upgrades in an effort to improve scrap rates and sustainability, as well as to save energy.

Today, Bemis manufactures products under its own brands and provides expertise to others, including private-label products and component parts for a variety of consumer, commercial, medical, and industrial markets in five countries around the world.

Milacron values the loyal partnership as the two companies continue to collaborate on advancements in plastics solutions that are groundbreaking and meet public demand.

#PartnerWithPossibility

Learn more about the solutions and possibilities this partnership has shaped.

Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing Magazine

Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing Magazine

Plastics News

Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing Magazine

The medical plastics market is an industry that relies on comprehensive manufacturing solutions to meet precise production requirements. Milacron’s cutting-edge Roboshot solutions are designed to meet these high demands with clean-room-ready machines and processes that produce consistent part quality.

The Roboshot’s gold-standard features, like configurable core sequence, flexible I/O, unmatched pressure control, and industry-leading artificial intelligence (AI) keep processors in the medical industry running with tight tolerances and precision year after year.

Milacron’s Roboshot customers are often loyal, as the machine is known worldwide for best-in-class reliability. Elite Biomedical Solutions, a Milacron customer for more than a decade, produces replacement components for infusion and telemetry assets for hospital biomed departments across the United States. Being in healthcare, Elite requires a machine solution that consistently produces with precision, day-in-and-day-out.

Partner With Possibility: Elite Biomedical Solutions - Milacron
Elite Biomedical Solutions operates a clean-room environment with five Fanuc Roboshots alongside associated auxiliary equipment from Milacron.

“Typically we run low volumes, but very tight tolerances, and that’s healthcare,” explains Elite CEO and Founder, Jeff Smith. “As a result of that, with the Roboshot solution, we’re guaranteed that process to be consistent with every part we make, and we make thousands and thousands of parts weekly.”

Elite Biomedical is a Milacron-only house of five Roboshots that are flanked with various pieces of Milacron auxiliary equipment to support.  A company that got its start in the basement of CEO, Jeff Smith’s home nearly a decade ago, Elite has grown to a multi-million-dollar business in a short period of time. The growth has even allowed the company to branch off with its own custom contract manufacturing segment, Elite Precision Plastics.

Milacron
The Elite Biomedical team outside its Cincinnati, OH headquarters.

Smith attributes the success of his dynamic business to not just the reliability of his Roboshot fleet, but the ease of working with Milacron through the years for all his company’s plastics processing needs.

“We do all of our shopping with Milacron and get all our accessory equipment through them and their partnerships,” he said. “They’ve been very consistent. Their training is all the same. And, who’s going to take care of us is all the same. It brings a sense of security and peace of mind, which is important to me as CEO.”

Learn more about Elite Biomedical’s fleet of Roboshots and the partnership they’ve come to rely upon with Milacron over the last decade in this short Partner With Possibility success story video . For a deeper product dive on the Roboshot machine, check out the Roboshot landing page, where a full product brochure can be downloaded. And, for additional product expertise, Milacron’s Kent Royer, Sr. Product Manager for the Roboshot, can be found on LinkedIn, as well as in-person at NPE 2024 at the Milacron booth, W1601, next May.

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