Expanding its reach

By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
NILES -- Bill Phillips Jr. can't help thinking how much cheaper the new Cleveland Browns Stadium would have been had the planners used expanded metal instead of perforated metal to trim the $290 million landmark.
Phillips should know -- he's president of Niles Expanded Metals & amp; Plastics, a longtime Trumbull County company that produces metal grating in a wide range of sizes and finishes.
He says the company's expanded metal products would have had the same decorative impact on the Cleveland landmark at one-quarter of the cost.
Founded in the 1960s, the company recently completed a $3 million capital improvement project that will dramatically improve production speed and quality at its North Pleasant Avenue plant.
Now, Phillips said, the company is ready to push for a larger share of the market now held by its perforated metal and wire mesh competitors and to expand uses.
"The possible uses for our product are virtually limitless," he said. "We've just got to change people's way of thinking."
How it's done
Expanded metal is manufactured through a process of cutting and stretching, producing a material that is lighter, yet stronger, than sheet or coil metal, he said.
The method literally stretches the metal, so that one 4-inch-by-8-inch sheet of material could produce four sheets of expanded metal mesh or grating of the same dimensions.
Expanded metal is used for barbecue grates, fencing, decorative dividers, stairs, walkways, light guards and drying racks. The diamond-shaped grate pattern allows light and sound to pass through, so it can be used to enclose, protect, support or decorate.
Carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum and plastics can be expanded. Its use for plastics has become so popular that the company changed its name this summer to reflect that addition.
Costlier metals
But Phillips said Niles Expanded Metals & amp; Plastics is best known for expanding more costly metals, such as titanium, brass and copper. Most of its competitors won't process more expensive metals because they would risk having to pay for the metal if a mistake were made.
"When you consider that carbon steel is just 18 cents a pound and nickel is $40 a pound, you can see that making a mistake with nickel would be a big mistake," he said. "We have the experience, that's why we're willing to do it."
That capability gives the Niles company an edge over others in its industry.
For example, Niles Expanded Metals is experimenting with production of zinc mesh jackets to protect bridge supports in salt water. The jackets protect the concrete from salt water damage, and replacing the zinc mesh is much less costly than replacing the supports.
History
Originally known simply as Niles Expanded Metals, the company began as a small, family-owned business in 1965. It was sold to Republic Corp., a Los Angeles conglomerate, in 1969.
By 1985 Republic Corp. was talking about liquidating the Niles operation. Bill Phillips Sr. was president of the company then, and he decided to buy the operation and save the 70 or more jobs that Republic would have eliminated.
"It was making money and he wanted to keep everyone working, so Dad went out on a limb and borrowed up to his eyeballs to buy the company," said Phillips Jr. His father, Phillips Sr., is still the owner and chief executive.
Phillips Jr. was living in California and working as a manager in the restaurant industry at the time, but he returned home to Warren in 1989 to learn the business. He worked in almost every department, from shipping, to maintenance to production, and he decided to stay.
"I never planned to stick around, but I loved it," he said. "The noise, the people, the competition are great."
The company has doubled its sales since Phillips Sr. bought it 17 years ago, but the work force stands at about 50.
Looking ahead
Last year the company added a 10,000 square foot building expansion and bought a new, 500-ton Danish-made press that produces expanded metal at more than three times the rate of its other presses. Phillips said the new equipment is expected to open several new product categories for the business.
The sluggish economy has forced Expanded Metals to furlough some workers this year, about 10 percent of its work force, on average. In some ways the slowdown has been an advantage, however, because it gave the company more time to "work the bugs out" of its new machinery.
He expects to see an influx of business soon, because one of the company's major competitors has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced plans to shut down.
Phillips said the company's engineers and sales force are also at work coming up with new product uses for the 500-ton press. He's also planning to begin working with engineering schools at Youngstown State and Kent State universities and the University of Akron to look for more new ideas.
vinarsky@vindy.com