Investments in equipment and people pay off

GOOD RESULTS: Craig Melucci, right, executive vice president of Hope Valley Industries, and Fredy Menendez, lead process manager, check out an all-weather Honda Civic floor mat that just came off the Haitian MA4700 injection molding machine at Hope Valley Industries in North Kingstown. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
GOOD RESULTS: Craig Melucci, right, executive vice president of Hope Valley Industries, and Fredy Menendez, lead process manager, check out an all-weather Honda Civic floor mat that just came off the Haitian MA4700 injection molding machine at Hope Valley Industries in North Kingstown. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

For Hope Valley Industries, investment in success has paid off.

The North Kingstown-headquartered manufacturer has been owned and operated by the Melucci family since 2002. Over those 14 years, it has experienced strong and steady growth – the result of strategic investments in staff, operations and machining capabilities.

“We’re kind of like the hidden secret of manufacturing in Rhode Island,” said Craig Melucci, the company’s executive vice president and son of owner Thomas Melucci.

Hope Valley is a leading supplier of custom-fit, all-weather floor mats for the automotive industry. Producing its first mats in 1985, it specializes in high-quality, low-volume products that it sells directly to such industry giants as Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Honda and BMW.

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“We’re not just a typical injection-molding manufacturer. We’re considered a custom outfit,” said Melucci. “We have our own personality in this industry.”

The company creates mats using what are known as thermoplastic elastomers – recyclable materials that, while they maintain the typical elastic quality of rubber, can be molded and pressed much like plastic, and require minimal compounding agents, Melucci explained.

As a means to meet industry demand, the company is now in the process of building new molds for mats that are high-walled and tray-like, so that they better contain the debris carried into vehicles, according to Julie Zito, director of human resources.

“We have very strict guidelines,” Melucci noted of the manufacturing process, pointing out that the cutting time for just one mat could take several weeks. “It has to fit right, it has to have the right specifications, it has to meet all the safety standards. We have to watch materials, do a lot of testing internally and externally.”

Hope Valley’s success is also the result of strategic investments. Over the past three years, the company has boosted its manufacturing capabilities by introducing 18 high-injection molding machines and 11 CNC milling machines. It plans to add another milling machine by this summer. That particular piece of equipment, weighing 2,000 tons, will be not only the largest of its own presses, but one of the largest in the Northeast.

The specialized manufacturer also has devoted time and resources to internal efficiencies related to technology, computerization and robotics, all of which have “streamlined on-time deliveries, performance and quality,” Melucci said, and have ultimately paid off with increased customer demand and new accounts.

Likewise, the company has grown its workforce more than fivefold, from an original 30 to more than 200 today. But its investment in staff hasn’t just been in numbers. Hope Valley has strategically embarked on training and apprenticeship programs to ensure that its workers are as experienced, proficient and up to date as they can be.

Some of that is due to a dearth in the industry; as Zito noted, the market simply doesn’t provide skilled machine operators as rapidly as they’re needed.

To address that, Hope Valley has provided injection-molding training through a top industry workforce company, Paulson Training Solutions. The result has been increased efficiency, productivity and less need for supervision, as well as a reduced employee turnover rate (over 90 percent of trained personnel have reported being “more satisfied” with their jobs), according to Zito.

Meanwhile, the company is devoting resources to equip the next generation of the workforce. In addition to providing tuition reimbursement and work-immersion programs, in 2015 it piloted a new apprenticeship program. Through that, Edward Forero, a graduate of William J. Davies Jr. Career and Technical High School in Lincoln, was presented with a full four-year scholarship to the New England Institute of Technology. While attending NEIT, Forero is working at Hope Valley, and has made a commitment to the company for a minimum of three years beyond his graduation, Zito said.

“This is finding a shining star, one of our own, who we’re helping to educate as an engineer and who is going to stay and work in Rhode Island,” she said. •

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